Arm has built its first-ever in-house chip, the 136-core AGI CPU, designed specifically for agentic AI workloads in data centers. It marks the end of the company’s three-decade model of only licensing chip designs.

The announcement gained new momentum this week. At the Hot Chips conference, Arm laid out how its technology handles tasks such as executing code, coordinating tools and moving data through agentic systems. Its shares climbed about 7.9 per cent to $315.33 on October 2, according to TradingView.

Arm says agentic AI needs a new kind of CPU. Intel’s data center chief publicly disagrees, according to The Register, which covered the Hot Chips exchange.

No independent benchmarks are available yet, and Arm has not named shipping customers. Arm’s own materials say the AGI CPU is available to order now.

The move puts Arm in direct competition with AMD’s EPYC in the segment driving the most growth for AMD. Analysts say adoption, software portability and customer wins will decide the chip’s fate.