IBM Corp.(NYSE:IBM), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and other technology companies have formed an alliance to help boost the adoption of IBM’s chip technology aimed at rivaling Intel Corp.’s X86 chip design.
Other members of the alliance called the OpenPower Consortium include chip maker Nvidia Corp.(NASDAQ:NVDA), networking technology firm Mellanox Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: MLNX), and Tyan Computer Corp., of Taiwan.
The partnership, announced on Tuesday, will allow companies to license IBM’s microprocessor design called Power which is currently only for in the company’s own server systems. License holders can incorporate the IBM circuitry to their own chips.
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The consortium, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal, is aimed at taking market share from the X86 chip which was popularized by Intel (NADAQ: INTC)and its rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ: AMD).
By licensing hardware and associated software, IBM hopes to get more revenue from its investments in the Power chips and attract new users as well. Last month, IBM reported that revenue for Power-based system declined by 25 per cent in the second quarter of 2013 from the previous year.
The X86 dominates the server market especially servers running Web-based applications.
Analyst firm IDC estimates that x86 servers accounted for 98 per cent of world-wide shipment and 70 per cent of server revenues in 2012.