IBM reveals dual-architecture processor for mainframes with Arm support

IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced a dual-architecture mainframe processor at the Hot Chips conference, designed to run both IBM and Arm compute platforms on future IBM Z and LinuxONE systems.

The processor marks the first milestone from an IBM and Arm collaboration established in April 2026. It is designed to allow organizations to run Arm-native Linux environments simultaneously with z/OS and Linux on IBM Z.

Built on a 2 nanometer technology node, the chip will contain 11 high-performance cores operating at more than 5.7 GHz. Each core is designed to natively execute both Arm and IBM Z, or Arm and LinuxONE, instructions concurrently. The processor will also include AI inference accelerators for in-transaction fraud detection, a dedicated on-chip data processing unit for I/O acceleration, and a large cache architecture.

IBM Z and LinuxONE platforms can scale to hundreds of cores and tens of terabytes of memory.

"This processor represents a significant architectural advancement for IBM Z and LinuxONE," said Christian Jacobi, Chief Technology Officer and IBM Fellow, IBM Systems Development. "By bringing Arm natively to our platform, we're combining access to one of the industry's fastest-growing software ecosystems with the qualities that have made IBM systems the foundation for how businesses run today."

Mohamed Awad, Executive Vice President of Cloud AI at Arm, said bringing Arm compute and its software ecosystem to IBM Z and LinuxONE platforms would extend momentum "into mission-critical enterprise infrastructure to give organizations greater choice in how they deploy AI."

IBM noted that statements regarding future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice and represent goals and objectives only.

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