Apple may not be the only company preparing to drop Intel chips. A new report from Bloomberg claims Microsoft is working on in-house ARM processor designs to power the company’s cloud services along with devices in the Surface line.
If true, the development would be a blow for Intel. The company has long dominated the market for server processors. However, Intel’s chip manufacturing technology has been struggling to advance to the 10-nanometer and 7-nanometer node, which has opened the door for rival AMD to compete in the server space.
Bloomberg’s report doesn’t exactly mention why Microsoft is developing the in-house ARM processors. But it notes the ARM-based CPUs tend to run on less power. At the same time, Microsoft is looking to outcompete its rivals in the cloud computing space, which includes Amazon.
One company that has already begun ditching Intel silicon is Apple. In November, the company introduced the first Mac products based on Apple’s own in-house ARM chip, known as M1. The new Macs have since gone on to receive rave reviews for their powerful CPU capabilities and long battery life.
Microsoft might be trying to follow in Apple’s footsteps. However, the company has already been using ARM-based chips in its consumer Windows products. Last year, Microsoft released the Surface Pro X, which uses a custom ARM processor known as SQ1 the company developed in partnership with Qualcomm.
Based on our review, the SQ1 chip does offer some impressive CPU performance, in addition to long battery life. Where it suffers is software support: As an ARM-based chip, the SQ1 can only run x86 Windows applications originally designed for Intel systems using an emulator, resulting in sluggish load times.
According to Bloomberg, Microsoft's efforts will likely "result in a server chip than one for its Surface devices." The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.