Facebook wants a say in server hardware

Facebook, the world's largest social network, wants to get in on computer hardware as well.

The company that revolutionised social networking on the Internet has teamed up with some of tech hardware's biggest names -- HP, Dell, Advanced Micro Devices, and Intel -- to launch the "open compute program" on Thursday.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the project aims to offer specifications and designs for more power-efficient, faster and cheaper servers, shared openly with other companies.

Dell will build servers based on those technical specifications, while Synnex will act as overall vendor for their systems.

The technology will power servers in the social network's first data centre, in Prineville, Oregon.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Richard Chang)