Having developed multiple generations of successful client platforms, Williams, Bruno, and Gulati founded Nuvia to develop high-performance Arm-based data center-grade CPU cores. Nuvia was acquired by Qualcomm in 2021 with the aim of using its technologies primarily for client applications, though it is highly likely that eventually architectures developed by the ex-Nuvia team will be used for the company's data center products.
Now, Williams, Bruno, and Srinivasan plan to develop an all-new clean-sheet general-purpose CPU design specifically for 'intense, continuous demands of advanced AI systems and agentic computing.' Perhaps it is about time now that most hyperscalers have their own custom silicon programs aimed at developing compute platforms aimed specifically at diverse AI workloads. All of these companies, already investing tens of billions of dollars in their AI infrastructure, will be tremendously interested in getting their hands on a clean-sheet CPU core design better tailored for AI than general-purpose competitors.
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Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom\u2019s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-20/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Anton Shilov Social Links Navigation Contributing Writer Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.
kealii123 Figured GPU architecture is what's going to matter in the future. Who cares about CPUs, what we have on data enters now is fine Reply
ekio What’s good with ARM and RISC-V is that now some engineers from all over the world can start their own adventure and improve things, unlike during the duo(if not mono)poly dark years were the future was exclusively decided between the hand of Blue corpo greed vs Red corpo greed. Reply
Notton So… judging by how this went last time with Nuvia… 2 years to design something Get bought out by Qualcomm for $1,300,000,000 3 years to tape out retail chips that are 2~3 gens behind Best of luck to them. Guessing we'll know their fate by 28'/29', and an actual product by 31'/32' Reply
alan.campbell99 More AI-focused silicon, doesn't sound too distinguishing to me. I imagine it'll be competing for fab capacity as well. If the bubble pops they should probably have another use for it lined up. Reply
bit_user This seems like history repeating itself, since they left Apple and founded Nuvia to build server CPUs. I wonder if this new company will also get bought by someone looking to use it for clients? : D Notton said: 3 years to tape out retail chips that are 2~3 gens behind No, more like 1 to 1.5 generations behind. Reply
bit_user kealii123 said: Who cares about CPUs, what we have on data enters now is fine Apparently not, as there's fairly brisk competition among CPU vendors, with Nvidia and ARM now getting into the race. In fact, AMD and Intel are doing quite well, mainly because demand for their server CPUs is so strong. Reply
bit_user jackt said: will it be riscv ? Possibly, but I wouldn't bet on it. Right now, RISC-V has about 0% marketshare, in the cloud. That will change, but it's a big gamble to stake your entire company on roughly when it'll start to gain any meaningful traction. The last company which tried that was Ventana, which Qualcomm acquired: https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/semiconductors/qualcomms-ventana-acquisition-points-to-a-long-term-risc-v-strategy Not sure if it was a fire sale. Quite possibly, since they have no shipping products (AFAICT), and yet were supposed to have at least their second-gen server CPU out, by now. Reply
TerryLaze bit_user said: In fact, AMD and Intel are doing quite well, mainly because demand for their server CPUs is so strong. GPUs At least there is no way of knowing for sure, either company only divides between client and datacenter, but it's much more probable because of the GPU demand (Instinct and gpu max) ,with server CPU sales probably being around the same as always, if not lower. Reply
Spuwho Notton said: So… judging by how this went last time with Nuvia… 2 years to design something Get bought out by Qualcomm for $1,300,000,000 3 years to tape out retail chips that are 2~3 gens behind Best of luck to them. Guessing we'll know their fate by 28'/29', and an actual product by 31'/32' Nuvia reportedly had the tech, but didn't have the funding to go fabrication. So they accepted the Qualcomm stock deal and reversed engineered their work to avoid the ARM license issue Now that Qualcomm has released their work and they are also outside of their non-compete window, they can move on and start Nuvia all over again. Reply
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/legendary-qualcomm-apple-and-nuvia-alumni-form-new-cpu-startup-nuvacore-promises-to-rewrite-the-rules-of-silicon#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
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Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.