IBM Unveils Dual-Architecture Arm Chip for Mainframes and LinuxONE

IBM has developed a dual-architecture Arm chip for its mainframes and LinuxONE systems. This new processor is designed to run z/OS and Arm-native Linux workloads simultaneously on the same core, eliminating the need for virtualization or emulation.

The chip uses a single unified architecture and supports running both Arm and IBM Z or LinuxONE instructions together on a single core. It features 11 high-performance 5.7-gigahertz cores, an on-chip data processing unit dedicated to input-output tasks, and an AI inference accelerator for real-time financial transaction fraud detection.

IBM aims to connect the previously separate mainframe and Arm-based computing ecosystems using this new chip. The company's Z mainframes and LinuxONE systems process about 70 percent of global financial transactions, while Arm has built a cloud-native and AI software ecosystem based on over 22 million developers.