Microsoft Surface PCs could be ditching Intel for custom silicon, too Microsoft Surface Go 2
It was only about a month ago that Apple launched a wave of new Macs, headed by the new MacBook Pro, ditching Intel for in-house custom silicon. That was a rough blow for Team Blue, but it looks like Microsoft may be following suit.
Bloomberg is reporting that Microsoft is working on creating its own processors, both for its data centers and for future Surface products, based on ARM designs. It’s unlikely this will result in a new product in the near future, but if this is true, it will be another major computing manufacturer moving away from Intel’s processors.
It’s unknown right now which products this would ultimately affect, or the timeline. However, this isn’t the first time Microsoft has moved away from Intel in its products. The Surface Pro X used a custom Qualcomm ARM chip, after all, and the Surface Laptop 3 opted for an custom AMD Ryzen 3000 processor – though the latter still had an Intel version available for professionals.
From MSFT’s Frank Shaw: “Because silicon is a foundational building block for technology, we’re continuing to invest in our own capabilities in areas like design, manufacturing and tools, while also fostering and strengthening partnerships with a wide range of chip providers.”December 18, 2020
The Bloomberg report doesn’t have much information available, with a lot of the details on The Bloomberg Terminal, which we don’t have access to. The source also chose to remain anonymous, so you should take the news with a grain of salt.
We have reached out to both Intel and Microsoft for more information, and we will update this article as soon as we hear any new information.
This is a developing story, and we’ll continue to update it.
What does this mean to you?
If Microsoft does move away from Intel for future products, it wouldn’t be the first time the Redmond giant has looked elsewhere. As we mentioned above, both the Surface Pro X and Surface Laptop 3 used chips from other manufacturers. So in a large way, this probably won’t mean much right off the bat.
What it could do, however, is show that Microsoft is willing to put more work into optimizing Windows 10 on ARM, and giving users more of a reason to use products with ARM chips.
One of the major reasons the devices with the Apple M1 are so good is because of Rosetta 2, a code translation layer that essentially translates x86 programs on macOS to be able to run natively on ARM. Microsoft doesn’t have anything like this right now, which means the only programs ARM-equipped Windows laptops can run are those on the Microsoft Store, which really is only a fraction of available Windows 10 apps.
The Bloomberg report leans more into claims that these chips could be coming to Microsoft’s data centers, however. If true, it’s unlikely that it will materially affect consumers in any way. But, because one of Intel’s strongest areas is with its Xeon line of CPUs for data centers, it could be hugely meaningful to Intel, especially considering the scale of Microsoft and its Azure cloud platform.
Absolutely none of this has been confirmed by Microsoft, however, and it’s unlikely that this will happen in the near term. After all, Project Kalamata, the Apple Initiative to develop in-house silicon, took several years after being rumored to result in actual products.
We’ll see what happens here, but it’s definitely an exciting time to be watching the computing landscape.
It was only about a month ago that Apple launched a wave of new Macs, headed by the new MacBook Pro, ditching Intel for in-house custom silicon. That was a rough blow for Team Blue, but it looks like Microsoft may be following suit. Bloomberg is reporting that Microsoft is…
