Arm custom chips get a boost with Nvidia partnership

Core Insights - Arm's technology will enable central processing units (CPUs) to integrate with AI chips using Nvidia's NVLink Fusion technology, facilitating custom infrastructure for hyperscalers [1] - Nvidia is expanding its NVLink platform to support a variety of custom chips, rather than limiting customers to its own CPUs [2] - Major cloud providers like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are adopting Arm-based CPUs to enhance control and reduce costs [3] Company Strategies - Arm licenses its instruction set technology and provides designs for partners to create Arm-based chips, enhancing the integration of custom Neoverse chips with GPUs [4] - Nvidia's AI infrastructure is increasingly reliant on AI accelerator chips, primarily its GPUs, with the potential to pair multiple GPUs with a CPU in AI servers [5] - Nvidia's previous attempt to acquire Arm for $40 billion failed due to regulatory challenges, but it maintains a small stake in Arm, which is majority-owned by Softbank [6] Market Dynamics - Nvidia's investment of $5 billion into Intel aims to facilitate the integration of Intel CPUs into AI servers using NVLink technology [5] - Softbank has divested its stake in Nvidia and is supporting the OpenAI Stargate project, which will utilize Arm technology alongside Nvidia and AMD chips [6]