Fujitsu unveils its Monaka CPU: a data center-designed processor based on the CPU in the Fugaku supercomputer.

Fujitsu introduces Monaka. This is a CPU that is based on the A64FX chip in the Fugaka supercomputer. Monaka is therefore also based on the ARM architecture. The chip will contain 150 Armv9 cores, which TSMC will bake in 2nm. This baking process is not an issue today and Monaka is actually a chip for the future. Fujitsu plans to bring the CPU to market in fiscal year 2027, starting April 1, 2026. So we shouldn’t expect Monaka earlier.

The CPU uses a chiplet design and combines multiple CPU chiplets to achieve 150 computing cores. Monaka will support DDR5 memory and PCIe 6.0. CXL 3.0 is also integrated.

Focused on the cloud

Despite the solid specifications, Fujitsu will not build Monaka as the successor to the Fugaku supercomputer. The chip is aimed at data centers and will therefore compete with AWS’s Graviton range, among others. The successor to Fugaku is only planned for 2030 and is expected to use a Monaka-based but even more powerful CPU.

The chip shows that ARM is becoming more mainstream in the data center. The high power efficiency of ARM chips is attractive to cloud providers, who can offer numerous services with lower power consumption and a more competitive price by bringing ARM under the hood. Where and how Monaka will actually perform will only be known in a few years.