Report claims Microsoft working on custom ARM processor

Dec 20, 2020 19:47 GMT  ·  By

Apple has launched Apple Silicon with much fanfare, and the first devices powered by the ARM-based M1 chip are already available or download.

Apple’s investments in ARM processors has caught the attention of the entire industry, and several others are already believed to be working on similar projects.

And now it looks like Microsoft is also considering such an approach, with a report from Bloomberg indicating the Redmond-based software giant is now working on its custom ARM chip.

The purpose is to power Surface products and servers, and Microsoft has the same long-term goal as Apple: reduce reliance on Intel and instead use in-house built products that are better optimized for the company’s own devices.

For the time being, however, Microsoft is still said to be in the early development stages, but at a quick glance, this project pretty much makes sense for the company.

An evolution of SQ chips

Windows 10 on ARM is already a sure thing and Microsoft is pushing hard for it, though at the moment, it’s only using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips for the whole thing. But in the long term, Microsoft could further expand this market with its own processors, thus stepping away from Qualcomm.

Windows Server for ARM is also a project that Microsoft is paying more attention to, so investing in Microsoft silicon could help the company expand more in this regard.

For the time being, however, Microsoft has remained tight-lipped on such an approach, though it wouldn’t be entirely surprising to see the company following in the footsteps of rival Apple. The Surface Pro X already comes with an SQ chip, which is a custom-built processor built by Microsoft together with Qualcomm, so sooner or later, the software giant could do the whole thing on its own without the need for a partner.