Microsoft snaps up Fungible for Azure cloud and data center boost
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Microsoft has confirmed the acquisition of Fungible in the latest powerful deal to boost its Azure cloud computing platform.
Following reports of a possible December 2022 deal and previous suggestions of a botched Meta acquisition, Microsoft has now confirmed (opens in new tab) acquiring the company in a move that will see it acquire the company’s highly efficient, energy-efficient data processing units (DPUs).
In a statement about that website (opens in new tab)Fungible explains that its DPUs were created in 2016 in response to the inefficient performance of data-driven computation within server nodes, and that it is “proud” to now be part of Microsoft, which it says shares its vision.
Microsoft buys Fungible and its DPUs
Girish Bablani, Azure Core Corporate VP, explained that “Fungible’s technologies help enable high-performance, scalable, disaggregated, scaled-out data center infrastructure with reliability and security.”
“Today’s announcement reiterates Microsoft’s commitment to differentiated long-term investments in our data center infrastructure that enhance our broad range of technologies and offerings, including offloading, latency improvement, increasing data center server density, optimizing energy efficiency, and reducing cost,” he added.
Fungible isn’t alone in the market, however, and faces stiff competition from several other tech giants, including Nvidia and Intel. Microsoft’s acquisition will hopefully give it the support it needs as it continues to develop DPUs for use by Azure’s cloud services.
This could be a welcome boost for a relatively small company that has struggled before, such as The register (opens in new tab) reports: “Fungible’s storage hardware made it onto VMware’s hardware compatibility list, its DPUs did not”.
Microsoft’s exact plans for the company remain to be seen, and whether it adopts, redesigns, or completely shuts down Fungible, chances are we’ll never hear about it.
For now, Bablani says that “the Fungible team will join Microsoft’s data center infrastructure engineering teams and focus on delivering multiple DPU solutions, network innovation, and hardware system enhancements.”