Nvidia to sell Arm-based chips for Windows PC as soon as 2025 in major challenge to Intel
- Nvidia has quietly begun designing CPUs that would run Microsoft Windows and use technology from Arm, sources say
- Nvidia and AMD, which also plans to make chips for PCs with Arm technology, could sell those chips as soon as 2025
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) also plans to make chips for PCs with Arm technology, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Nvidia shares closed up 3.84 per cent, and Intel shares ended down 3.06 per cent after the Reuters report on Nvidia’s plans. Arm’s shares were up 4.89 per cent at close.
Nvidia spokesman Ken Brown, AMD spokeswoman Brandi Marina, Arm spokeswoman Kristen Ray and Microsoft spokesman Pete Wootton all declined to comment.
Nvidia, AMD and Qualcomm’s efforts could shake up a PC industry that Intel long dominated, but which is under increasing pressure from Apple. Apple’s custom chips have given Mac computers better battery life and speedy performance that rivals chips that use more energy. Executives at Microsoft have observed how efficient Apple’s Arm-based chips are, including with AI processing, and desire to attain similar performance, one of the sources said.
In 2016, Microsoft tapped Qualcomm to spearhead the effort for moving the Windows operating system to Arm’s underlying processor architecture, which has long powered smartphones and their small batteries. Microsoft granted Qualcomm an exclusivity arrangement to develop Windows-compatible chips until 2024, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Microsoft has encouraged others to enter the market once that exclusivity deal expires, the two sources told Reuters.
“Microsoft learned from the 90s that they don’t want to be dependent on Intel again, they don’t want to be dependent on a single vendor,” said Jay Goldberg, chief executive of D2D Advisory, a finance and strategy consulting firm. “If Arm really took off in PC (chips), they were never going to let Qualcomm be the sole supplier.”
Microsoft has been encouraging the involved chip makers to build advanced AI features into the CPUs they are designing. The company envisions AI-enhanced software such as its Copilot to become an increasingly important part of using Windows. To make that a reality, forthcoming chips from Nvidia, AMD and others will need to devote the on-chip resources to do so.
There is no guarantee of success if Microsoft and the chip firms proceed with the plans. Software developers have spent decades and billions of dollars writing code for Windows that runs on what is known as the x86 computing architecture, which is used by both Intel and AMD. Computer code built for x86 chips will not automatically run on Arm-based designs, and the transition could pose challenges.
Intel spokesman Will Moss did not immediately respond to a request for comment. AMD’s entry into the Arm-based PC market was earlier reported by chip-focused publication SemiAccurate.