- Microsoft claims Cobalt 200 delivers a 50% performance increase over Cobalt 100 systems
- Microsoft targets data analytics and web services using workload-specific design methods
- Per-core DVFS adjusts power consumption independently across all 132 cores.
Microsoft introduced Cobalt 200, a new Arm-based processor designed for cloud services on Azure.
The company says the chip, which succeeds the Cobalt 100 and maintains compatibility with existing deployments, was designed using workload patterns seen in Azure environments, rather than industry standard benchmarks, and delivers up to 50% better performance.
These workloads include data analytics, web applications, network-intensive services, and systems that rely heavily on storage access, targeting real-world usage.
Efficiency-focused architecture and power controls
The Cobalt 200 incorporates per-core dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS), which allows each of the 132 cores to operate at different performance levels, reducing unnecessary power consumption.
The chip is manufactured using a 3nm process and is part of a broader strategy to manage energy costs in data centers.
Compression, encryption, and decompression tasks are handled by dedicated accelerators, freeing up CPU cycles and reducing compute costs for services like Azure SQL.
Microsoft says these accelerators come from internal analysis showing that more than 30% of workloads rely on these operations.
The processor includes a custom memory controller that encrypts memory by default without a significant performance penalty.
It also implements Arm’s confidential compute architecture to isolate virtual machine memory from the hypervisor and host operating system.
Cobalt 200 systems integrate Azure’s hardware security module for encrypted key management.
It also supports compliance requirements through Key Vault, which manages cryptographic key availability and scaling responsibilities, and Azure Boost, which manages the offloading of networking and remote storage tasks to reduce latency and improve throughput.
Microsoft is positioning Cobalt 200 as part of a broader platform rather than as a standalone chip, powering systems in global Azure regions, with expanded availability planned for 2026.
The company plans to deploy the servers across its entire fleet, with operational hardware already up and running in some data centers.
This announcement appears to favor low-power systems as data center energy demands increase.
Organizations can prioritize systems that reduce operational expenses, especially those that rely on distributed compute environments, workstations, GPU clusters, and multi-tier deployments that combine CPU-based tasks with accelerated workloads.
That said, the actual measure of Cobalt 200 performance will depend on independent comparisons between competing cloud processors once customer access expands.
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