Fujitsu and Supermicro partner to build Arm-based, liquid-cooled AI data centers

A high-performance, energy-efficient platform

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A hot potato: Technology companies are racing to develop innovative solutions to meet the growing demand for uncanny images and other generative AI outputs, and they can't seem to move fast enough. A newly announced partnership between Fujitsu and Supermicro aims to address one of AI's most pressing challenges: power consumption and efficiency.

Japanese IT corporation Fujitsu and US server manufacturer Supermicro have teamed up to develop a new data center platform designed for AI applications. The technology will be based on Fujitsu's Monaka, a novel Arm-based processor architecture, announced as the successor to the A64FX chip.

Monaka, which is engineered to deliver both high performance and improved energy efficiency, is expected to be released by 2027. Arm chip architectures have long been known for their efficient power usage, but Fujitsu and Supermicro now aim to push this defining feature of the ISA tech to new heights.

The driving force behind this collaboration, as with many innovations in the tech industry today, is generative AI. Demand for data center capacity is rising faster than companies can supply AI-specialized hardware. Energy efficiency remains one of the biggest challenges for both manufacturers and end customers alike.

The "state-of-the-art" servers and high-performance computing (HPC) solutions being developed by Fujitsu and Supermicro are expected to significantly improve power consumption and efficiency. These new systems are designed to support a broad range of HPC applications, including AI as well as more traditional workloads required in cloud, edge, and other server-based environments.

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Energy-saving architectures are a core focus for the partnership, as both companies emphasize designing the servers with sustainability in mind. One of the key targets is developing racks that can be cooled with liquid solutions. Fujitsu will provide the Arm-based computing "brains," while Supermicro will apply its "Building Block" approach to deliver modular, customizable data center solutions.

Fujitsu's Monaka chip, currently in development, is expected to be manufactured using a 2-nanometer process. The new processor design is being developed with support from state subsidies provided by Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization.