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Fujitsu MONAKA Server Brings 2nm 144-Core CPUs to Air-Cooled AI Inference, On Sale in November

AI  ◇  Enterprise

Fujitsu is bringing its 2nm FUJITSU-MONAKA processor to AI infrastructure with a new server family designed to run AI inference in air-cooled data centers without requiring specialized liquid cooling. The MONAKA Server is designed, developed, and manufactured in Japan, with component and manufacturing traceability for sovereign AI deployments.

FUJITSU-MONAKA CPU package render with the Fujitsu logo, the 2nm 3D-stacked processor at the heart of the Fujitsu MONAKA Server

The first MONAKA Servers will come in 1U and 2U configurations for AI inference and AI agents, with a separate 2U multi-node system planned for academic and HPC environments. Fujitsu is also making the MONAKA processor available separately for cloud and data center operators and other server vendors.

MONAKA runs at up to 3.8GHz and supports memory transfer speeds up to 8800MT/s, with dedicated matrix instructions and SVE2 vector processing accelerating AI inference directly on the CPU. Fujitsu rates MONAKA at twice the AI inference throughput of other CPUs, although it hasn’t identified the processors used for that comparison or provided benchmark results.

MONAKA Brings AI Inference to Air-Cooled Servers

The 1U MONAKA Server supports air cooling at ambient temperatures up to 40 degrees Celsius, while its liquid-cooled configuration supports water temperatures up to 45 degrees Celsius.

Fujitsu rates its server cooling technology for up to an 80% reduction in cooling power consumption, although specific system configurations and test conditions weren’t provided. The air-cooled configuration is particularly interesting for data centers that want to add AI inference capacity without changing their existing cooling infrastructure.

Fujitsu MONAKA Server 2U chassis with the lid off, showing two FUJITSU-MONAKA CPUs under their heatsinks, the DIMM banks around them, and the front drive bays

The processor itself uses a 3D-stacked design that combines CPU cores manufactured on a 2nm process with cache and I/O produced at 5nm. Fujitsu pairs the design with its ultra-low-voltage operation technology, which is where it says the power efficiency comes from.

Confidential computing is implemented at the hardware level through Arm CCA, encrypting applications and data while they are running in memory, including workloads operating in multi-tenant cloud environments.

MONAKA is also being developed for integration with accelerated platforms through Fujitsu’s work with NVIDIA to connect MONAKA CPUs and NVIDIA GPUs through NVLink Fusion.

MONAKA Server Keeps Development and Manufacturing in Japan

Sovereign infrastructure is the other major focus for MONAKA Server, with Fujitsu keeping the design, development, and manufacturing of the systems in Japan. Production will take place at the company’s Kasashima Plant, where component origins and manufacturing histories can be tracked through the production process.

That traceability takes the sovereign AI pitch down to the physical hardware, past the usual question of where data is stored or processed. Fujitsu is pairing the domestically produced hardware with its own AI software and management technologies for organizations that need greater control over their infrastructure, data, and supply chain.

The initial server lineup includes a 2U system with two MONAKA processors and 1U configurations with either one or two CPUs. Both air- and water-cooled deployments are supported, with the systems targeting AI inference and AI agent workloads.

Specification 2U Rackmount Model 1U Rackmount Model
Features All-in-one CPU/GPU/NW model optimized for existing DC/Edge environments Scalable model with flexible configuration and expansion according to environmental changes
Applications Digital Twin, Physical AI, Agentic AI, AI Inference Optimized for facility environments; flexible expansion from small to large scale
CPU Type / Quantity FUJITSU-MONAKA
2 CPUs
FUJITSU-MONAKA
1 to 2 CPUs
Base Frequency / Cores 2.1GHz × 144 cores 2.1GHz × 144 cores (air-cooled)
2.9GHz × 144 cores (liquid-cooled)
Memory Type / Slots RDIMM
24
RDIMM
12 (1-CPU configuration) / 24 (2-CPU configuration)
Storage Type / Slots E3.S SSD × 4
M.2 SSD × 2
E3.S SSD × 8
M.2 SSD × 2
Expansion Slots PCIe Gen6 (GPU support available) PCIe Gen6
Chassis Size 2U height 1U height
Cooling Method Air-cooled Air-cooled / Liquid-cooled

 

The 1U MONAKA Server also uses CDI/CXL technology to pool memory and accelerators, allowing those resources to be allocated across systems.

For academic and HPC environments, Fujitsu is preparing a 2U multi-node MONAKA Server with four nodes and two CPUs per node. The configuration is intended for computational workloads including surrogate models and fluid analysis.

Specification 2U Multi-node Model (4 nodes per chassis)
Features Multi-node model maximizing processing power within limited power and space
Applications AI data centers, large-scale simulations
CPU Type / Quantity FUJITSU-MONAKA
2 CPUs per node / 8 CPUs per chassis
Base Frequency / Cores 2.9GHz × 144 cores
Memory Type / Slots RDIMM
24 per node / 96 per chassis
Storage Type / Slots E1.S SSD × 2 per node
M.2 SSD × 2 per node
Expansion Slots PCIe Gen6
Chassis Size 2U height
Cooling Method Liquid-cooled

Fujitsu Connects MONAKA With Its AI Software

Fujitsu is extending the sovereign infrastructure approach into software through the Fujitsu Kozuchi AI platform, Takane enterprise generative AI, and industry-specific AI models. The combination brings together the processor, server hardware, AI platform, and generative AI software while supporting domestic data management, governance, traceability, security, and operational autonomy.

Future MONAKA hardware will include higher-density systems for AI data centers and rack-scale servers with autonomous operation features. Fujitsu is also developing robotic maintenance technology for future rack-scale systems, extending automation into physical server operations and maintenance.

Fujitsu’s math on the twice-the-throughput claim is that customers need half the servers and half the power for the same inference load, which is the figure the air-cooled pitch rests on. With no named comparison CPU or published benchmarks behind it, that’s the number to test when systems ship.

FUJITSU-MONAKA Availability

Standalone FUJITSU-MONAKA processors are scheduled to go on sale in November 2026, with availability planned for cloud and data center operators and server vendors in Japan, the US, APAC, and other markets during the fourth quarter of Fujitsu’s fiscal 2026.

Fujitsu also plans to begin sales of its 1U and 2U MONAKA Servers in Japan and Europe in November 2026 to data center operators, enterprises, academic and HPC buyers, and the defense sector. Select customers in the financial, telecommunications, and manufacturing sectors are expected to receive systems during the second half of fiscal 2026, with broader shipments in Japan and Europe scheduled to begin sequentially in April 2027.

FUJITSU-MONAKA

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Lyle Smith

Lyle is a writer for StorageReview, covering a broad set of end user and enterprise IT topics.