Qualcomm: Only few companies can move from x86 to Arm for servers

Qualcomm is not exiting the data center chips market, but is downsizing its server processor division and transferring it to its mobile chips business. According to Qualcomm, only a few customers are able to deploy the Arm server chips.

Qualcomm chairman Cristiano Amon has denied to Reuters a rumor more than a month ago that the company would consider closing or selling its server chip division. However, the company is reorganizing the division and it will become part of Qualcomm’s CDMA Technologies part, which designs mobile chips.

The server chips division will focus on large companies active in the cloud computing field. In addition to large American companies, Qualcomm wants to target Chinese tech giants such as Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu through a joint venture.

“It’s very clear to us that the opportunities for Arm lie with a few players who don’t have the hurdle of x86 software to overcome,” said Amon. Much server software is written for x86, partly due to the leading position that Intel has managed to build with its Xeons. The large companies could still adapt their software to the Qualcomm chips, but that would be difficult for small companies.

Qualcomm had high hopes for its Centriq chips for servers, which would, among other things, offer better performance-per-watt than the Intel Xeons. However, the Arm server chip market has not grown as hoped, and Qualcomm is cutting costs and focusing on its core business to increase profitability.