Oracle recently announced an investment in chip startup Ampere. Ampere is run by Renee James, a former Intel executive who served as president of the company from 2013 till her departure in 2016, and currently serves on Oracle’s board.
Ampere Computing develops microprocessors for cloud servers. Their processors are based on the chips designed by ARM Holdings, a rival of Intel and AMD. ARM processors, widely used in tablets and phones, are known for delivering substantial speed with minimal heat and power consumption.
Ampere hopes to harness those qualities and apply their benefits to cloud servers. The goal is to produce cloud servers that provide “higher density and higher bandwidth, and with a significant reduction in power consumption and operating costs.”
Now, in Oracle’s proxy, they have outlined the extent of their investment:
“In April 2019, Oracle invested $40 million in an equity fundraising round for Ampere Computing LLC (Ampere), a developer of high-performance microprocessors for cloud and edge servers. Renée J. James, an Oracle director, is the Chairman and CEO of Ampere. Oracle has appointed one director to Ampere’s board. Oracle holds less than 20% of the outstanding equity of Ampere.
“In fiscal 2019, Oracle paid Ampere approximately $419,000 for hardware used for development and testing purposes.”