Cloud firms eye Intel rivals

Some of Intel’s data centre customers, whose thousands of computers run cloud networks, are exploring using microchips from the market leader’s rivals to build new infrastructure after the discovery of security flaws affecting most chips.

Whether Intel experiences a slew of defectors or is forced to offer discounts, the company could take a hit to one of its fastest-growing business units. Intel chips back 98% of data centre operations, according to industry consultancy IDC.

Last week, researchers disclosed flaws, dubbed Meltdown and Spectre, that could allow hackers to steal passwords or encryption keys on most types of computers, phones and cloud-based servers.

Microsoft said on Tuesday the patches necessary to secure the threats could significantly affect server performance. Intel would help customers find the best approach in terms of security, performance and compatibility, it said on Tuesday. “For many customers, the performance element is foremost, and we are sharply focused on doing all we can to ensure that we meet their expectations.”

Alternatives include Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), which shares with Intel a chip architecture called x86. Other alternatives could be chips based on technology from ARM Holdings; and graphics processing chips, which were developed for different tasks than Intel and AMD’s central processing units.

For Gleb Budman’s company, online storage firm Backblaze, building with ARM chips would not be difficult. “If ARM provides enough computing power at lower cost or lower power than x86, it would be a strong incentive for us to switch,” said Budman. “If the fix for x86 results in a dramatically decreased level of performance, that might increasingly push in favour of switching to ARM.”

Cloud providers said that swapping previously installed Intel chips for those of rivals would be too complex but in future they could expand their networks using alternatives.

Nvidia’s graphical processing units are not a direct replacement for Intel’s central processing units but they are taking over the central processing units’ role for work such as image recognition.

Leading technology firms were experimenting with Intel alternatives before the security flaws were revealed. In March 2017, Microsoft committed to using ARM processors for its Azure cloud service. In 2016, Google said it was designing a server based on IBM’s Power9 processor. Amazon Web Services chose AMD graphics processing units for a graphics design service announced in September.