Microsoft unveils Arm-based Azure virtual machines using Ampere CPUs
NicolasMcComber


Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) said on Monday that its new Azure virtual machines would use processors made by Ampere and run on Arm architecture, becoming the first Azure virtual machines, or VMs, to do so.
The tech giant said the Azure VMs will have up to 64 virtual CPU cores, up to 8GB of memory and have up to 40 gigabytes of networking capabilities, along with support for standard solid state drives, standard hard disk drives, premium solid state drives and Ultra Disk Storage.

Arm executive Chris Bergey called the news an "important milestone" for cloud computing.
"Through market-leading scalable efficiency and the liberty to innovate, Arm Neoverse is enabling Azure customers to embrace the increasing diversity of workloads with better overall TCO and cleaner cloud service operations," Bergey said in a statement.
Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said the new VMs are available in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Australia Azure regions, with additional regional availability coming after September 1.
Microsoft (MSFT) shares fell 1% in mid-day trading.
Hedge fund 3G Capital recently disclosed that it had significantly cut its stake in Microsoft (MSFT), while making several other changes to its portfolio.