Google unveils Axion, its inaugural custom Arm-based data center processor

Google Cloud’s introduction of its custom-built Arm processor, Axion, marks a significant milestone in the cloud computing industry, aligning with similar efforts by competitors AWS and Azure. Built on Arm’s Neoverse 2 designs, Axion instances are touted to offer substantial performance improvements over existing Arm-based instances from competitors, as well as superior performance and energy efficiency compared to X86-based instances.

Google claims that Axion instances deliver a 30% performance boost over Arm-based instances from competitors like AWS and Microsoft, while also boasting up to 50% better performance and 60% better energy efficiency than comparable X86-based instances. However, Google has not provided any documentation or technical details to substantiate these claims, leaving many questions unanswered.

Despite inquiries for additional information, Google has declined to provide any further details, including availability dates, pricing, or specific technical data. Even benchmarking results were not disclosed, and the company refrained from specifying which X86 instance Axion was being compared against.

In response to queries, Google spokesperson Amanda Lam mentioned that technical documentation, including benchmarking and architecture details, will be made available later this year. Until then, the exact capabilities and performance of Axion remain speculative, and interested parties will have to wait for further information to assess its potential impact on the cloud computing landscape.