AMD has recently launched an initiative to provide its accelerators computing based on GPU Chinese Internet giant Alibaba, and this news has inspired not only the company's management, but also investors. Chinese sources are developing the use of subject in Alibaba servers alternative components, and argue that the Internet giant may eventually move their server systems for specialized processors with ARM architecture.
A couple of years ago ARM was sure that by the end of the decade, its share in the segment of the server processors will be measured in tens of percent. However, in the case of Alibaba, there is one important caveat - the 28% stake in the Chinese company owned by a Japanese corporation of Softbank, which recently acquired the assets of ARM. Japanese investors are interested to expand markets for processors with ARM architecture.
However, such rumors can be used for leverage in negotiations with Intel, which still remains the main supplier of processors for server systems Alibaba. Especially since AMD Naples server processors is also just around the corner, and formally the Chinese there are more options to choose from. Let us not forget that the strength of the joint venture with AMD Chinese company THATIC developed x86-based processors for use in the local server infrastructure. On the market they appear in 2018, but they now can be considered as an alternative to Intel products.