Rumor: Google wants to use Qualcomm ARM chips in data centers

Google is reportedly developing ARM chips together with Qualcomm and is announcing next week to support these chips in its data centers. If the rumor is true, this is a serious blow to Intel, which now dominates the server chip market.

Google plans to deploy Qualcomm’s ARM processors if they perform sufficiently, Bloomberg reports citing anonymous sources. Google and Qualcomm have been working together on developing the chips for some time, and next week Google would publicly announce its support for the project.

At the end of 2013, there were already rumors that Google had plans for its own server chips. Qualcomm has also been working on ARM socs for servers for some time and the company has already delivered its first server designs for testing purposes. Google has been using its own server designs since 2005, according to Cnet, and the two companies are likely working on optimizing Qualcomm’s ARM server chips for a new server design.

Google is one of the world’s largest buyers of chips for use in its data centers worldwide. Until now, the company mainly bought from Intel. Google buys 300,000 processors per quarter, according to research firm IDC. Intel is by far the largest chip supplier for servers and especially for systems in data centers. That market now makes up a third of Intel’s turnover.

A few manufacturers are working on alternative chips based on the ARM architecture for data center applications, including Qualcomm and AMD, but until now they have hardly posed a threat to Intel. The ARM chips are primarily intended to make computing centers more economical. Data center consumption is a growing problem.