Nvidia Vera CPUs deliver 2x throughput over AMD and Intel at Modal

Modal tests Vera

AI cloud provider Modal has evaluated Nvidia's Vera CPUs in internal testing. According to the company, Vera delivered about twice the throughput of its current AMD and Intel processors. The result marks a significant customer win for Nvidia as it pushes into the server CPU market.

Why CPUs matter again

Agentic AI workloads require substantial CPU resources for software execution, data processing and other tasks that GPUs cannot handle efficiently. Until now, Modal relied exclusively on AMD and Intel processors for these operations.

Arm transition is not trivial

Vera is based on the Arm instruction set architecture, so Modal will need to make substantial changes to its software. The company still believes the performance gains justify the engineering effort. Modal CEO Erik Bernhardsson said not all software can be ported to Arm overnight, so the company will continue using x86 CPUs from AMD and Intel.

Heterogeneous server fleet

Rather than committing to a single architecture, Modal plans to run a mixed server fleet and pick the most suitable processor for each workload. The company will also evaluate upcoming AMD and Intel processors when they become available.

What it means for Nvidia

Nvidia expects Vera sales to generate at least $20 billion in its current fiscal year and estimates the total addressable market at roughly $200 billion. The company aims to sell at least four million Vera CPUs in fiscal 2026. The news follows Modal's $750 million funding round led by Accel, which valued the company at $15.75 billion.