Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines are making their way to Arm processors, bringing significant performance improvements over x86.

Arm processors have become popularized by mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. Virtually every major manufacturer uses Arm-based processors in their devices. Apple has taken it one step further, basing the M1 powering its Mac lineup on the architecture. Arm chips are renowned for offering desktop-class performance at a fraction of the power consumption x86 chips are known for.

As the second-largest cloud provider, Microsoft is now making its Azure Virtual Machines available for Ampere Altra Arm-based processor, providing as much as 50% more price-performance than comparable x86 options.

The company’s customers are already reaping the benefits.

“We power better journeys through travel technology. To achieve that, we design and deliver the most complex, trusted, and critical systems that our customers need”, said Denis Lacroix, SVP Cloud Transformation Program at Amadeus. “Travelers demand that their needs are met efficiently and quickly, and that they receive a consistent, personalized experience through every step of their journeys, from inspiration to search and booking, to ticketing, check-in, and arriving home. With Azure Arm64 VMs, we will be able to deliver higher throughput and even better experiences than the x86 VM that we’ve used in the past. Azure Arm64 VM series have proven to be a reliable platform for our applications, and we’ve accelerated our plans to deploy Arm64-based Azure solutions.”

The new VMs are available in preview, but interested parties can fill out this form to request early access.