AMD wants to counter concerns that system administrators may have about placing ARM servers in data centers with its new chips code-named Seattle, which are now shipping in volume after a long delay.
The PowerPC is best known for powering old Mac computers, while MIPS processors were in the first PlayStation, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft and the first $99 Android tablets. Now, both processor families are widely used in equipment like networking gear but are being threatened with the emergence of ARM chips for embedded devices.
AppliedMicro has announced a new family of 64-bit ARM chips that could disrupt the stodgy but sizeable market for components used in network routers, printers and other "embedded" equipment.
From smartphones, tablets and servers, ARM's 64-bit processors could soon spread to multifunction printers, storage and networking devices.
A decade-old race to crank up core counts in x86 chips may have lulled, but the competition has just started picking up in ARM processors.