Google announced its first ARM-based processor, Axion!

Google announced Axion, its first Arm-based processor for use in data centers. This new processor is Google’s answer to the Arm processors that power Amazon’s data centers. Let’s take a look at the details together.

Google’s first ARM-based processor: Axion

Introduced as part of the Google Cloud Next 2024 event, Axion was the first Arm-based processor created by Google specifically for data centers.

Designed using Arm’s Neoverse V2 processor, this processor provides 30% better performance than existing systems used in Google’s cloud services. It also performs 50% better than the latest x86-based virtual machines and is also claimed to be 60% more energy efficient. Google currently uses Axion in its services such as BigTable and Google Earth Engine, and it is planned to be used in more applications in the future.

Axion’s launch could make Google a rival to the likes of Amazon, which has a leading position in data centers with Arm-based processors. Graviton processors from Amazon Web Services (AWS) were released in 2018 and updated with new versions over the next two years.

Other processor manufacturers such as NVIDIA have also developed Arm-based processors for data centers. Imagine how important this step of Google is in this period when competition is increasing and the industry is transforming.

In addition to Axion, Google also draws attention with the Tensor processors it developed for Pixel phones. These processors are the first Arm-based processors that Google has developed for use in its own consumer products. Google has even developed special processors such as the Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) for data centers and has been using these processors internally since 2015.

One of the reasons why Google favors Arm-based processors is that they are generally lower cost and energy efficient. What are you thinking? Please don’t forget to share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.