Once a hyperscaler or a cloud builder gets big enough, it can afford to design custom compute engines that more precisely match its needs. It is not clear that the companies that make custom CPUs and XPUs are saving money, but they are certainly gaining control and that is worth something. Arm made a push based on the power-efficient nature its architecture, and Nvidia has become a key player in AI with its powerful GPUs and now its “Grace” Arm server CPUs. A reinvigorated AMD has given system m...