VMware finally porting Cloud Foundation to Arm – in baby steps
(2025/08/26)
- Reference: 1756169175
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/08/26/vmware_cloud_foundation_arm_port/
- Source link:
EXCLUSIVE VMware will port its flagship hypervisor and Cloud Foundation suite to the Arm processor architecture.
The Broadcom business unit revealed its plan today during a session at the VMware Explore conference, in which senior technology product manager Rupesh Shimkhada said customers’ need to run AI/ML workloads on the network edge – a location where Arm-powered devices are prevalent – is one driver for the port. VMware thinks users of cloud-native applications, and telco users, will also appreciate the move.
Customers' desire to use more energy-efficient servers that improve performance-per-watt also influenced VMware's decision.
[1]
For starters, however, VMware will port elements of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) to Nvidia's power-guzzling servers. Plans call for phased development to bring all VCF features to Arm over a series of releases.
[2]
[3]
Shimkhada said the next release of VCF will include some elements of the platform for Arm. VMware's revised [4]release cadence for VCF means code will likely emerge in around March 2026. He declined to say when VMware will deliver a full VCF for Arm release.
While most hyperscalers offer their own Arm servers for rent in the cloud, Shimkhada said VMware will target VCF on Arm towards on-prem deployments, and especially at service providers. That's a curious ambition, as Arm servers for mainstream enterprise users remain scarce. The Register can't imagine VMware will forever ignore the likes of AWS, Microsoft, Google, and Oracle – all of which offer Arm servers and tout them as offering superior performance-per-watt when compared to x86 processors. VMware has also made it plain that hyperscalers are among its most preferred partners. Porting VCF to Arm without including the big clouds would be a change of direction.
[5]ESXi-on-Arm is real and VMware will use it to run networks, storage, and security on SmartNICs
[6]VMware's Arm hypervisor still creeping forward, slowly
[7]VMware sees no need to Arm itself for multi-architecture multi-cloud
[8]VMware’s ESXi-on-Arm adds support for two-socket servers, Nvidia boards
While users wait for the full Arm port, VMware will offer formal support for the ESXi on Arm "Fling" – VMware’s term for unofficial code it publishes but doesn’t support – that it delivered in 2020 and which runs on a handful of Arm CPUs and the Raspberry Pi.
For now, VMware has started to recruit design partners it will consult as it works on VCF for Arm. An application form for that program is [9]here .
[10]
VMware already offers a version of its hypervisor on Arm, in the form of the vSphere Distributed Services Engine (DSE) that offloads some networking functions to Arm CPUs in SmartNICs. The Register understands very few VMware customers adopted the DSE, and since Broadcom acquired the company it has said little about the product's future. ®
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[4] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/18/vmware_product_lifecycle_changes/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/29/esxionarm_is_real_and_vmware/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/15/esxi_on_arm_evolves/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/23/vmware_for_arm_parked/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/16/vmware_esxi_arm_ampere_server_support/
[9] https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe4Ufx3zinurwxfKPlTnV7E68P8jHpKg_2J5biy0ZFQxJOjHg/viewform?pli=1
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The Broadcom business unit revealed its plan today during a session at the VMware Explore conference, in which senior technology product manager Rupesh Shimkhada said customers’ need to run AI/ML workloads on the network edge – a location where Arm-powered devices are prevalent – is one driver for the port. VMware thinks users of cloud-native applications, and telco users, will also appreciate the move.
Customers' desire to use more energy-efficient servers that improve performance-per-watt also influenced VMware's decision.
[1]
For starters, however, VMware will port elements of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) to Nvidia's power-guzzling servers. Plans call for phased development to bring all VCF features to Arm over a series of releases.
[2]
[3]
Shimkhada said the next release of VCF will include some elements of the platform for Arm. VMware's revised [4]release cadence for VCF means code will likely emerge in around March 2026. He declined to say when VMware will deliver a full VCF for Arm release.
While most hyperscalers offer their own Arm servers for rent in the cloud, Shimkhada said VMware will target VCF on Arm towards on-prem deployments, and especially at service providers. That's a curious ambition, as Arm servers for mainstream enterprise users remain scarce. The Register can't imagine VMware will forever ignore the likes of AWS, Microsoft, Google, and Oracle – all of which offer Arm servers and tout them as offering superior performance-per-watt when compared to x86 processors. VMware has also made it plain that hyperscalers are among its most preferred partners. Porting VCF to Arm without including the big clouds would be a change of direction.
[5]ESXi-on-Arm is real and VMware will use it to run networks, storage, and security on SmartNICs
[6]VMware's Arm hypervisor still creeping forward, slowly
[7]VMware sees no need to Arm itself for multi-architecture multi-cloud
[8]VMware’s ESXi-on-Arm adds support for two-socket servers, Nvidia boards
While users wait for the full Arm port, VMware will offer formal support for the ESXi on Arm "Fling" – VMware’s term for unofficial code it publishes but doesn’t support – that it delivered in 2020 and which runs on a handful of Arm CPUs and the Raspberry Pi.
For now, VMware has started to recruit design partners it will consult as it works on VCF for Arm. An application form for that program is [9]here .
[10]
VMware already offers a version of its hypervisor on Arm, in the form of the vSphere Distributed Services Engine (DSE) that offloads some networking functions to Arm CPUs in SmartNICs. The Register understands very few VMware customers adopted the DSE, and since Broadcom acquired the company it has said little about the product's future. ®
Get our [11]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_specialfeatures/vmwareexplore&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aK0xWd7OWsXPNMCfV7KvLgAAAQE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[4] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/18/vmware_product_lifecycle_changes/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/29/esxionarm_is_real_and_vmware/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/15/esxi_on_arm_evolves/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/23/vmware_for_arm_parked/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/16/vmware_esxi_arm_ampere_server_support/
[9] https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe4Ufx3zinurwxfKPlTnV7E68P8jHpKg_2J5biy0ZFQxJOjHg/viewform?pli=1
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[11] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/