Amazon Wants To Reduce Reliance On Intel, Intros Graviton Server Chips

Amazon Inc. has introduced its own server processors called Graviton. The chips are going to challenge Intel’s processors that have played a huge part in Amazon’s cloud-computing service.

The electronic commerce company announced its Graviton chips late Monday, a move that is viewed as Amazon’s first step toward reducing its reliance on Intel Corp. For some time now, the semiconductor manufacturing company has been providing the most important component of Amazon’s cloud-computing servers.

It’s possible that the Graviton chips could become Amazon’s processors of choice for its cloud servers in the near future because the new electronic circuitry units support the latest versions of the internet retailer’s main EC2 cloud-computing service, according to Bloomberg.

Annapurna Labs, a startup that Amazon acquired in 2015, designs the Graviton chips. The new processors utilize technology from Softbank Group’s semiconductor and software design unit ARM Holdings. The Graviton chips are capable of running web services and applications that are not that intensive, and they perform well even when multiple servers work on the same task.

Amazon appears to be challenging Intel’s strong grip on the server chip market with its discounting strategy for the Graviton chips. The e-commerce giant proudly said that Graviton-backed cloud service has a “significantly lower cost” than cloud services powered by Intel chips.

The discounting strategy Amazon uses has already been proven to be effective in winning customers over and over again. Therefore, it won’t be surprising if many clients would flock the Graviton-backed cloud service, which is estimated to be 45 percent cheaper than its Intel-powered counterparts by Wells Fargo analyst Aaron Rakers.

Despite the launch of Amazon’s own server chips, Intel will remain to be the major provider of processors for Amazon’s high-end computing and cloud servers, Amazon Web Services vice president Matt Garman confirmed.

Garman clarified that Amazon simply came up with its own chips because it saw the opportunity for rival technology to thrive. He also maintained that Amazon wants to distinguish its chips from Intel’s processors. “We absolutely want to differentiate ourselves and meet any and all use cases that our customers come up with,” Garman said.