IBM Details The World’s First Dual-Architecture Processor As It Builds Its Next-Gen Dual ISA Core That Natively Executes Z & Arm Software On The Same Chip

IBM’s next-generation chip will combine dual ISA within the core, enabling the execution of Z and Arm software simultaneously.

IBM Is Sending The World’s First Dual-ISA Processor Core For Tape-Out Soon

IBM’s Christian Jacobi (IBM Fellow & CTO, IBM Systems Development) presented the Hot Chips 2026 talk in which he announced the first Dual-ISA (Instruction Set Architecture) Core for IBM Z and LinuxOne generation.

The dual architecture allows IBM to execute both Z- and Arm-based software. IBM states that this isn’t putting two different core types on one chip like Intel’s P/E core or some type of emulation, but it is rather the integration of the Arm ISA directly into the mainframe cores. This allows IBM to bring together the vast Arm software ecosystem with mainframe traditional strengths: scalability, performance, high-availability, and security.

IBM currently offers two mainframe solutions for enterprise: the IBM Z for traditional…