Proxmox Virtual Environment (PVE) has taken one of the biggest steps in its history. After years of being limited to x86-64 processors, the popular open-source virtualization platform now officially supports the ARM64 (AArch64) architecture, a milestone long awaited by enterprises, cloud providers, and system administrators running ARM-based servers.

Proxmox VE ARM64 support in 20 seconds

Proxmox VE is now officially available for ARM64 processors.
The ARM edition shares the same codebase, repositories, release cycle, and support model as the x86-64 version.
NVIDIA Grace Hopper and NVIDIA Vera are the first officially supported platforms.
The move paves the way for ARM-powered data centers, cloud infrastructure, and AI deployments.

For years, running Proxmox on ARM required community-maintained builds that adapted the platform without official backing. While these projects enabled homelabs and proof-of-concept deployments, maintaining them over time was challenging, and they never offered the same level of stability or support as the official x86 releases.

With Proxmox VE 9.2, that changes completely.

ARM is no longer an experimental platform

The new ARM64 edition shares exactly the same technology stack as the traditional Intel and AMD release.

It is built on Debian 13.5 “Trixie”, ships with the Linux 7.0 kernel as the default stable release, and includes the same core virtualization technologies:

QEMU 11.0
LXC 7.0
ZFS 2.4

For administrators, this means virtually the same management experience, web interface, command-line tools, documentation, and update cycle regardless of the processor architecture.

Perhaps most importantly, this is not a technology preview. Proxmox confirms that ARM64 is a fully supported platform on certified hardware, with the same lifecycle and enterprise support model as x86-64.

NVIDIA helps bring Proxmox to ARM

The ARM64 port has been developed in close collaboration with NVIDIA, making its platforms the first to receive official certification.

Currently, Proxmox VE officially supports:

NVIDIA Grace Hopper
NVIDIA Vera

The company also states that it is working with additional enterprise server vendors to expand the list of officially supported ARM platforms in the future.

Interest in ARM servers has accelerated alongside the rise of artificial intelligence, where systems based on NVIDIA Grace combine ARM CPUs with high-performance GPUs for AI and HPC workloads.

Not every ARM device is supported

Although official ARM64 support significantly expands deployment options, Proxmox makes it clear that not every ARM device will be compatible.

Supported systems must provide:

UEFI boot support
ACPI hardware description
ARMv9-A architecture or newer (ARMv8-A may work on a best-effort basis)

As a result, popular single-board computers such as the Raspberry Pi, which rely on Device Tree rather than ACPI, are not supported.

Some architecture-specific differences

The overall user experience remains almost identical, although there are a few architecture-specific differences.

Among the most important are:

Virtual machines always boot using UEFI (AAVMF).
SeaBIOS is not available on ARM64.
AMD SEV memory encryption and Intel GVT-g mediated vGPUs remain x86-exclusive features.
Live migration is only supported between nodes running the same CPU architecture.

This means that while mixed x86 and ARM clusters can technically be configured, they are not officially supported.

Likewise, virtual machines created for x86 cannot simply be moved to ARM hardware without reinstalling or reconfiguring the guest operating system.

A strategic move for data centers and AI

Official ARM64 support reflects a broader industry shift.

ARM processors are no longer limited to mobile devices. They are becoming increasingly common in enterprise infrastructure thanks to platforms from NVIDIA, Ampere, and other server vendors focused on high-performance computing and energy efficiency.

For organizations running large-scale LXC container environments or private cloud infrastructure, having a single virtualization platform across multiple CPU architectures simplifies operations considerably.

The announcement also benefits cloud providers offering ARM instances, as well as enterprises looking to reduce power consumption without sacrificing performance.

Proxmox has also confirmed that other products in its ecosystem, including Proxmox Backup Server, already have internal ARM builds under development and may become officially available depending on enterprise demand.

With this release, Proxmox evolves from an x86-only virtualization platform into a hypervisor designed for a future where multiple processor architectures will coexist across modern data centers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Proxmox VE for ARM64 a beta release?

No. Proxmox states that ARM64 is fully supported on the officially certified platforms and follows the same release lifecycle and support policy as the x86-64 edition.

Which hardware platforms are officially supported?

At launch, NVIDIA Grace Hopper and NVIDIA Vera are fully supported. Other ARM servers with UEFI and ACPI support may work on a best-effort basis.

Can I install Proxmox VE on a Raspberry Pi?

No. ARM64 hosts must boot via UEFI and expose hardware through ACPI. Device Tree-only systems such as the Raspberry Pi are not supported.

Can virtual machines be migrated between x86 and ARM?

Not through live migration. Virtual machine data can be transferred using backups or shared storage, but guest operating systems must be reinstalled or adapted to run on the target architecture.