SoftBank Group to Acquire Ampere Computing for 6.5B

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Role of Ampere and ARM Servers

  • Commenters see Ampere as essentially the only serious merchant ARM server CPU vendor (vs. in‑house designs like Graviton), with real deployments in several clouds and telco.
  • Users report good real‑world performance and power efficiency, but one benchmark experience found Altra Max performance degrades when all 128 cores are saturated, leading them back to dual Epyc.
  • Some point to Nvidia Grace as another ARM server option, but note Nvidia focuses on AI and high single‑core performance, while Ampere targets high‑core-count web workloads.

SoftBank vs. Oracle as Acquirer

  • Many express relief it was SoftBank, not Oracle, citing Oracle’s history of buying architectures and letting them stagnate.
  • Concern is that an Oracle acquisition would lock Ampere into one cloud, discourage broader ARM server adoption (Azure, Google, smaller hosts), and hurt ecosystem diversity.
  • There is debate over Ampere’s financial health; some suggest it “wasn’t that healthy,” but it’s unclear if bankruptcy was imminent.

Implications for Arm’s Business Model & Conflicts

  • Some worry SoftBank now both controls Arm and owns a server CPU vendor, effectively competing with Arm’s customers while having visibility into their confidential roadmaps.
  • Others argue the overlap is limited: most Arm licensees target mobile/desktop, while Ampere is focused on servers and telco.
  • Several comments frame this as part of a broader Arm/SoftBank shift: bringing more IP and even silicon “back in house,” ceding low‑end to RISC‑V and focusing on high‑end designs.

x86 vs ARM and AMD’s Position

  • Disagreement over whether x86 is “in decline.” Intel may be struggling, but AMD’s server cores are seen as very competitive in performance‑per‑watt and total compute.
  • Questions about why AMD doesn’t ship ARM server CPUs: answers cite good x86 efficiency, royalty‑free x86 vs. paid Arm licenses, and the fact that most buyers choose ARM primarily on cost.
  • Consensus that for now, software and market inertia still favor x86 for general servers.

Apple Mac Pro Rack as “Server” (Tangent)

  • Long subthread concludes it is effectively a rackable workstation: expensive, limited cores/RAM, no full BMC/IPMI, questionable ECC, and poor remote‑admin story.
  • Considered acceptable for macOS‑specific CI or remote desktop, but not a realistic alternative to Ampere or Epyc for general-purpose server use.