Can ARM Challenge x86’s Server Dominance? Linus Torvalds Weighs In

Arm recently announced its upcoming Neoverse N1 platform and E1 CPU, promising a significant boost in infrastructure performance and aiming to expand from mobile devices into the server market.

Linus Torvalds expressed skepticism about Arm’s server prospects, noting that despite price advantages, ARM servers are currently slower and more expensive than x86, and he questioned the relevance of cross‑development for most developers.

In response, a user named Michael S argued that Linus underestimates the importance of cross‑development, which is a strength of ARM.

Torvalds also claimed that the rise of cloud does not diminish the importance of instruction set architecture, emphasizing that developers prefer to deploy on the same architecture they code for, which he believes will keep x86 dominant in servers.

Redis creator Salvatore "antirez" Sanfilippo countered Torvalds’ view, stating that he is working to make ARM the primary architecture for Redis, with successful tests showing no stability issues.

Many developers echoed antirez’s optimism, noting that while Linus’s perspective may have been valid in the past, the future could see a shift as Apple plans ARM‑based Macs and Microsoft adds ARM support to Windows 10.

Additionally, GCC 9 is expected to be released around April, with the first stable version being GCC 9.1.0.

Readers are invited to share their opinions on the x86 versus ARM debate.