By Chris Brill, Field CTO, Myriad360
For decades, choosing a computing processor wasn’t a choice at all. If you were building a PC, deploying servers, or running enterprise workloads, you bought an Intel or AMD x86 chip. It was the default architecture—so much so that companies didn’t even think about alternatives.
The industry relied on x86 not because it was the best solution, but because it was the only option. By 2016, x86 processors powered 99.3% of all servers shipped worldwide and generated 86.6% of server revenue. For years, Intel and AMD refined their processors, adding features, expanding instruction sets, and maintaining backwards compatibility. But over time, that compatibility came at a cost.
Today, the computing world looks very different. Apple, AWS, and Nvidia are moving away from x86 entirely. The old monopoly is being replaced by a more efficient, flexible, and scalable alternative: ARM architecture. The companies leading innovation in AI, cloud computing, and mobile devices are already choosing ARM—not x86—for their future.
This shift isn’t theoretical. It’s already happening.
x86 vs ARM 101
For decades, x86 has been the backbone of computing. Its greatest strength has been compatibility—a new Intel or AMD processor can still run software written decades ago. But that backwards compatibility comes with a growing burden.
x86 processors carry an ever-expanding instruction set—a vast, bloated collection of commands that have accumulated for over 40 years. Intel has never streamlined it; instead, every generation adds more complexity without removing anything. That’s made x86 processors more power-hungry and less efficient over time.
ARM, by contrast, was built from the ground up for efficiency. Instead of trying to support every possible instruction ever written, ARM focuses on a lean, optimized instruction set. It uses fewer transistors, consumes less power, and allows companies to customize the architecture for their specific workloads.
The efficiency gap becomes clear when looking at real-world power consumption. While ARM chips are designed to maximize performance per watt, x86 chips are often burdened by legacy power inefficiencies. In performance tests, the ARM Cortex-A15 (Exynos 5250) consumed significantly more power than Intel’s Atom Z2760 under GPU-intensive workloads, peaking at nearly 4W compared to Atom’s 1W in similar conditions. While ARM chips can be high-performance, they also give manufacturers the flexibility to design lower-power variants, making them ideal for mobile and cloud environments.
And while x86 forces vendors to buy and use Intel or AMD’s chips as they are, ARM operates under a licensing model. This means companies like Apple, Nvidia, and AWS can customize the processor to their needs, optimizing for performance, efficiency, or cost.
For years, x86 was the only viable option. But Apple changed that.
Apple Proved That x86 Wasn’t Inevitable
Apple had relied on Intel for over a decade, using x86 chips in MacBooks, iMacs, and Mac Pros. But Intel wasn’t delivering the efficiency or performance Apple needed. When Apple finally cut Intel loose and developed its own ARM-based M-series chips, the results were immediate and undeniable.
The M1 chip, launched in 2020, delivered performance on par with Intel’s i7-1185G7 in single-threaded tasks and approached the capabilities of AMD’s Ryzen 9 5950X. This demonstrated that ARM-based processors could effectively compete with established x86 chips.
And Apple kept pushing.
The M4 Max posted a Tom’s Hardware Geekbench 6 single-core score of 4,060, surpassing Intel’s Core Ultra 9 285K and AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X. The performance was undeniable—but it wasn’t just about speed.
Apple’s shift forced developers to rethink their priorities. Major software vendors like Microsoft and Adobe launched ARM-native versions of Word, Excel, and Photoshop, optimizing them for Apple’s silicon.
Apple had thrown down the gauntlet, and cloud providers took notice.
Cloud Infrastructure Is Moving Away from x86
If Apple proved ARM could replace x86 in consumer devices, AWS and other cloud providers proved it could replace x86 on an enterprise level.
AWS, Microsoft, and Google are all designing their own ARM-based chips—not because it’s trendy, but because it’s cheaper, faster, and more power-efficient.
AWS’s Graviton chips have been a game-changer. The second-generation Graviton2-powered R6g instances deliver 40% better price/performance than Intel’s Xeon-based R5 instances.
And the efficiency gains aren’t theoretical—real-world results show that running NEC’s 5G core network on AWS Graviton2 cut power consumption by 72% compared to x86.
Other hardware vendors have followed. Ampere, an ARM-based chip manufacturer, is supplying cloud providers with 80-core Altra processors that outperform AMD’s 64-core Epyc and Intel’s 28-core Xeon chips.
Enterprise IT is making a clear shift: ARM is the future of cloud infrastructure.
And Nvidia just cemented this trend in the artificial intelligence space.
Nvidia Proves That Even AI & HPC No Longer Need x86
For years, high-performance computing (HPC) and AI workloads were Intel’s uncontested stronghold. But Nvidia is proving that even these workloads don’t need x86 anymore.
Instead Nvidia’s Grace Hopper superchip integrates a 72-core ARM CPU with a Hopper GPU, eliminating x86 entirely while delivering 900 GB/s memory bandwidth.
And in real-world applications, ARM-powered supercomputers are already beating x86. Fugaku, the world’s most powerful supercomputer, outperforms every x86-based system in global AI and HPC benchmarks.
Nvidia has sent a clear message: x86 is no longer necessary—even at the highest levels of computing.
Are Hybrid’s Days Limited?
For now, the industry is mostly in a hybrid phase—Apple still supports x86 software, AWS still offers Intel and AMD instances, and Nvidia’s ARM is rolling out alongside x86. But this won’t last forever.
The industry isn’t just adopting ARM—it’s replacing x86 for all but rearward-facing applications. The present may be hybrid. The past is x86, and the future is ARM.
See how the world’s fastest supercomputer runs entirely on ARM