Google designs server systems motherboard that uses IBM’s Power8 chip

It’s no secret that IBM wants to move its technology into the kind of data centers that Google and other Web giants operate. Now comes evidence that Google is putting some serious work into that possibility. The Internet search company on Monday said it has designed a motherboard for server systems that uses IBM’s new Power8 chip, which has typically only been found in hardware designed by IBM itself. 

IBM’s efforts to expand the use of its Power chips in hyperscale data centers just got a big shot in the arm from Google. The online giant is showing its first home-built server board based on IBM’s upcoming Power8 processor at an IBM conference in Las Vegas on Monday. Google is a founding member of the OpenPower Foundation, IBM’s project to open up the design of its Power chip for use in new types of servers, so it’s no secret Google was on board with the effort. But it hadn’t confirmed publicly that it was building Power hardware and porting its software to the chip. On Monday, Gordon MacKean, a Google engineer who’s also chairman of the OpenPower Foundation, posted a picture of Google’s Power8 server motherboard on his Google+ page.