Annapurna Lab, an Israeli Company, acquired by Amazon last year, has announced on Wednesday, introduced a new line of ARM based microprocessors, naming 'Alpine chips'. The e-commerce giant expresses intentions to sell the chips to manufacturers and data center companies.
Through unveiling the microchips, Amazon reaffirms presence in the electronic chips market. The chips are reportedly based on designs from microprocessor giant ARM Holdings and can be integrated into Internet of Things devices, stream videos or run data centers.
The Alpine chips carry up to four processors with different networking technologies. Theses are believed to boost the performance of routers and home products that are currently limited in computing power. Annapurna chips have already been used in commercial products from Asus, Netgear, and Synology, reports The Verge.
Appearance of an Amazon subsidiary into the market for components and systems is a growing concern for Intel Corp.'s dominance over data-center infrastructure. The use of ARM's technology in Intel's most lucrative market has so far been negligible compared to the world's largest chipmaker has kept a grip on its 99 percent market share of server chips, according to a report published in Fortune magazine.
Amazon is increasingly creating and selling items self branded tablets, e-readers, and phones. The news of unveiling ARM based chips appears just after James Cakmak, analyst from Brokerage House Monness Crespi Hardt has reportedly dropped his rating for the e-commerce giant. Amazon's share value has been reported to loss by 6% in after hours trading on Wednesday, reports Bloomberg.
Rising costs in Amazon's cloud computing business have been treated as a rising concern among the analysts. Requirement of ever lingering budget in developing shows for streaming on Prime subscription video service has also acted behind the share price fall.
It is not clear whether Amazon plans to use Annapurna's technology for internal use unlike its other own home products. After acquiring robotics company Kiva Systems in 2012, Amazon used its technology to outfit its warehouses with a workforce of robots. However, The Annapurna chips aren't yet available directly from Amazon's main e-retail website.
Annapurna Labs's Alpine semiconductors haven't targeted the servers that support Intel's business. Instead, the chips are designed for devices like low-power computers for storage and networking. Annapurna will also sell a hardware development kit to modify and extend its chips for their own purposes.
Annapurna Lab, acquired subsidiary of Amazon, has unveiled a sort of ARM based chip microprocessors, Alpine. Debuted in the arena of microchip around two years back, the e- commerce pioneer is believed to confirm its appearance. But the unveiling move has apparently failed to hold Amazon share value in place.
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