CPU (Central Processing Unit)

The brain of every computer system your business runs — and why understanding processor economics is essential for managing your $5 trillion enterprise IT budget. The global semiconductor market reached $680 billion in 2026, with CPUs accounting for the largest single category at approximately $130 billion. As AI workloads explode — growing tenfold between 2023 and 2026 — the choice of CPU has become a strategic decision affecting everything from data centre energy bills (now exceeding $110 billion annually worldwide) to employee productivity and AI inference costs. For business leaders, understanding CPU fundamentals is essential for making informed infrastructure procurement decisions, negotiating cloud contracts, and planning technology budgets.

What It Is The CPU is the primary computational engine of a computer — the component that executes instructions, performs calculations, and coordinates all other hardware. If a computer were a company, the CPU would be the chief executive: it does not do every task personally, but it directs operations, makes decisions, and determines how fast the organisation runs. Modern CPUs contain multiple processing cores — effectively multiple "brains" operating in parallel. A high-end server CPU like AMD's EPYC 9005 series contains up to 192 cores, whilst Apple's M4 chip in MacBooks integrates 12–16 cores. Each core can handle a separate task simultaneously, making multi-core processors dramatically more effective for multitasking workloads. The clock speed, measured in gigahertz (GHz), determines how many instructions each core can execute per second — typically between 2.5 and 5.5 GHz in current enterprise processors. It is important to distinguish CPUs from GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), which have become central to AI workloads. CPUs are generalists — excellent at handling diverse, complex tasks that require decision-making logic. GPUs are specialists — designed to perform thousands of simple calculations simultaneously, making them ideal for AI training and graphics rendering. Most enterprise workloads run on CPUs; most AI training runs on GPUs. The art is matching the right processor type to each workload.

Why It Matters for Business CPU selection and utilisation have direct financial implications. In cloud computing, the CPU type is the single largest factor in instance pricing. An AWS instance with an Intel Xeon processor costs meaningfully different from one with an AMD EPYC or an AWS Graviton (ARM-based) processor for equivalent performance. Organisations that optimise their CPU choices — selecting ARM-based instances for appropriate workloads — can reduce cloud compute costs by 20–40%. At enterprise scale, this translates to savings of millions of dollars annually. Energy efficiency is increasingly critical. Data centres consume approximately 2% of global electricity, and CPUs are the primary driver of server power consumption. AMD's latest EPYC processors deliver 25% better performance per watt than the previous generation, whilst ARM-based designs from Ampere and AWS Graviton offer 40–60% better energy efficiency than traditional x86 processors. For a data centre consuming $50 million in annual electricity, a 30% improvement in CPU energy efficiency saves $15 million per year and significantly advances sustainability goals. Supply chain resilience is another executive concern. The semiconductor industry's concentration of advanced manufacturing in Taiwan (TSMC manufactures over 90% of the world's most advanced chips) creates geopolitical risk. Organisations that understand their CPU dependencies can diversify architectures — for example, maintaining compatibility with both x86 (Intel/AMD) and ARM (Ampere, AWS Graviton) — to mitigate supply disruption risks.

Enterprise Use Cases Meta (Facebook) redesigned its data centre architecture around its custom CPU choices, deploying a mix of AMD EPYC processors for general-purpose workloads and custom-designed AI inference chips. The company reported that its processor optimisation programme saves over $2 billion annually in infrastructure costs while supporting 3 billion daily active users across its platforms. HSBC migrated thousands of database workloads from Intel Xeon processors to AMD EPYC-based servers, achieving a 27% reduction in data centre floor space and a 32% reduction in energy consumption while improving database performance by 20%. The three-year programme delivered ROI within 18 months and reduced total cost of ownership by approximately $50 million. Netflix uses a diverse CPU strategy across its streaming infrastructure, deploying Intel, AMD, and ARM-based instances in different tiers depending on workload characteristics. Encoding and transcoding workloads run on high-core-count AMD processors, whilst content delivery runs on ARM-based instances for maximum energy efficiency. This optimised approach reduces Netflix's AWS bill by an estimated 15–20% compared to a single-architecture strategy.

Vendor Landscape Intel dominates the enterprise CPU market with approximately 60% share, led by its Xeon Scalable processor line. However, Intel's share has declined from over 90% five years ago as competition intensifies. AMD holds roughly 25% of the enterprise market, with its EPYC processors winning design contests at Google, Microsoft, and Amazon for their superior core counts and energy efficiency. ARM-based processors represent the fastest-growing segment, with AWS Graviton (custom ARM chips used exclusively in AWS), Ampere Computing, and Apple Silicon driving adoption. Qualcomm has entered the server CPU market with its Oryon-based data centre processors. For consumer and employee devices, Intel and AMD compete in the x86 space, whilst Apple Silicon dominates premium laptop performance benchmarks. Cloud providers increasingly offer ARM-based instances at 20–40% lower cost than equivalent x86 instances, making ARM adoption a significant cost optimisation.

New Developments

As of June 2026, several new CPUs have been announced or released that are set to impact the market significantly. Intel's latest Xeon Scalable processors, known as Sapphire Rapids, have been launched, offering enhanced performance and energy efficiency compared to their predecessors. AMD has also unveiled its EPYC 9004 series, which claims to provide up to 30% better performance than the previous generation, further solidifying its position in the enterprise market. Additionally, the rise of RISC-V architecture is gaining traction, with several companies exploring its potential for custom CPU designs, which could disrupt the traditional x86 and ARM markets. This shift towards more flexible architectures is expected to foster innovation and competition, potentially leading to cost reductions for enterprises.