Microsoft's Windows-on-Arm (WoA) project has been going through an expansion phase, with the recent range of Snapdragon X SoCs powering many laptops. However, as we are about to get bombed with WoA devices in 2025, Microsoft has prepared an official ISO image of the Windows 11 operating system, available for users to download on the official website. The download size is about 5 GB and requires an Arm-based system to work, as expected. The need for Windows 11 ISO image for WoA comes from the increased number of desktop builds shipped to developers worldwide based on Arm. There are many workstations like the ones offered by ODMs, with an Ampere Altra or Altra Max processor inside.

This is also good news for enthusiasts waiting for the NVIDIA-MediaTek collaboration to drop its first goodies next year, and we expect to see some interesting solutions arise. With Microsoft investing its developer resources into producing Windows 11 Arm builds, it signals that the adoption of Arm-based devices is about to get much higher interest from the consumer standpoint.

According to DigiTimes, NVIDIA is reportedly targeting the high-end segment for its first consumer CPU attempt. Slated to arrive in 2025, NVIDIA is partnering with MediaTek to break into the AI PC market, currently being popularized by Qualcomm, Intel, and AMD. With Microsoft and Qualcomm laying the foundation for Windows-on-Arm (WoA) development, NVIDIA plans to join and leverage its massive ecosystem of partners to design and deliver regular applications and games for its Arm-based processors. At the same time, NVIDIA is also scheduled to launch "Blackwell" GPUs for consumers, which could end up in these AI PCs with an Arm CPU at its core.

NVIDIA's partner, MediaTek, has recently launched a big core SoC for mobile called Dimensity 9400. NVIDIA could use something like that as a base for its SoC and add its Blackwell IP to the mix. This would be similar to what Apple is doing with its Apple Silicon and the recent M4 Max chip, which is apparently the fastest CPU in single-threaded and multithreaded workloads, as per recent Geekbench recordings. For NVIDIA, the company already has a team of CPU designers that delivered its Grace CPU to enterprise/server customers. Using off-the-shelf Arm Neoverse IP, the company's customers are acquiring systems with Grace CPUs as fast as they are produced. This puts a lot of hope into NVIDIA's upcoming AI PC, which could offer a selling point no other WoA device currently provides, and that is tried and tested gaming-grade GPU with AI accelerators.

Arm CEO Rene Haas predicts that SoCs based on the Arm CPU machine architecture will beat x86 in the Windows PC space in the next 5 years (by 2029). Haas is bullish about the current crop of Arm SoCs striking the right balance of performance and power efficiency, along with just the right blend of on-chip acceleration for AI and graphics, to make serious gains in this market, which has traditionally been dominated by the x86 machine architecture, with chips from just two manufacturers—Intel and AMD. On the other hand, Arm has a vibrant ecosystem of SoC vendors. "Arm's market share in Windows - I think, truly, in the next five years, it could be better than 50%." Haas said, in an interview with Reuters.

Currently, Microsoft has an exclusive deal with Qualcomm to power Windows-on-Arm (WoA) Copilot+ AI PCs. Qualcomm's chip lineup spans the Snapdragon Elite X and Snapdragon Elite Plus. This exclusivity, however, could change, with a recent interview of Michael Dell and Jensen Huang hinting at NVIDIA working on a chip for the AI PC market. The writing is on the wall for Intel and AMD—they need to compete with Arm on its terms: to make leaner PC processors with the kinds of performance/Watt and chip costs that Arm SoCs offer to PC OEMs. Intel has taken a big step in this direction with its "Lunar Lake" processor, you can read all about the architecture here.

German PC OEM Schenker, along with its two brands—XMG targeted at high-performance mobile workstations and gaming notebooks; and Tuxedo, targeting Linux-friendly notebooks; made a splash at the 2024 Computex. We visited their pullout booth. The EVO 14 is a 14-inch class performance notebook powered by choices of Intel Core Ultra 7 155H "Meteor Lake" or AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS "Hawk Point" mobile processors; an innovative new dual-fan cooling solution, with 65 W sustained power delivery, and an 80 Wh battery pack. The 14-inch display features a 16:10 aspect ratio, 400 nits brightness, and 3K resolution. Memory options go all the way up to 96 GB, and I/O includes either USB4 or Thunderbolt 4, depending on the hardware platform. The EVO 15 is almost identical in terms of specs, but with a larger 99.8 Wh battery, and a 15.3-inch 500 nits display, and a full-sized edge-to-edge keyboard.Update 07:03 UTC: We have some pricing and availability details from Schenker.

NVIDIA is eying a comeback to the client processor business, reveals a Bloomberg interview with the CEOs of NVIDIA and Dell. For NVIDIA, all it takes is a simple driver update that exposes every GeForce GPU with tensor cores as an NPU to Windows 11, with translation layers to get popular client AI apps to work with TensorRT. But that would need you to have a discrete NVIDIA GPU. What about the vast market of Windows AI PCs powered by the likes of Qualcomm, Intel, and AMD, who each sell 15 W-class processors with integrated NPUs capable of 50 AI TOPS, which is all that Copilot+ needs? NVIDIA held an Arm license for decades now, and makes Arm-based CPUs to this day, with the NVIDIA Grace, however, that is a large server processor meant for its AI GPU servers.

NVIDIA already made client processors under the Tegra brand targeting smartphones, which it winded down last decade. It's since been making Drive PX processors for its automotive self-driving hardware division; and of course there's Grace. NVIDIA hinted that it might have a client CPU for the AI PC market in 2025. In the interview Bloomberg asked NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang a pointed question on whether NVIDIA has a place in the AI PC market. Dell CEO Michael Dell, who was also in the interview, interjected "come back next year," to which Jensen affirmed "exactly." Dell would be in a front-and-center position to know if NVIDIA is working on a new PC processor for launch in 2025, and Jensen's nod almost confirms this

DFI, the world's leading brand in embedded motherboards and industrial computers, proudly announced the launch of its innovative product lineup featuring Windows on Arm (WoA) at Embedded World 2024. DFI NXP products deliver high power efficiency and seamlessly integrate Windows on Arm, introducing a new era in computing where the traditional stronghold of Windows on x86 processors is evolving.

Arm and Microsoft revealed a compelling study that projected an 81% growth in the Windows on Arm market within the next five years. DFI's commitment to embracing this dynamic landscape is evident in its latest product offerings, designed to unlock the true potential of WoA. The diverse NXP product lineup included Single Board Computers, system-embedded Box PCs, and Panel PCs tailored to various customer needs.

Google has just released an Arm-optimized version of its popular Chrome browser for Windows PCs. This new version is designed to take full advantage of Arm-based devices' hardware and operating system, promising users a faster and smoother browsing experience. The Arm-optimized Chrome for Windows has been developed in close collaboration with Qualcomm, ensuring that Chrome users get the best possible experience on current Arm-compatible PCs. Hiroshi Lockheimer, Senior Vice President at Google, stated, "We've designed Chrome browser to be fast, secure, and easy to use across desktops and mobile devices, and we're always looking for ways to bring this experience to more people." Early testers of the Arm-optimized Chrome have reported significant performance improvements compared to the x86-emulated version. The new browser is rolling out starting today and will be available on existing Arm devices, including PCs powered by Snapdragon 8cx, 8c, and 7c processors.

Shortly, Chrome will receive an even more performant chip boost with Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon X Elite SoC launch. Cristiano Amon, President and CEO of Qualcomm, expressed his excitement about the collaboration, saying, "As we enter the era of the AI PC, we can't wait to see Chrome shine by taking advantage of the powerful Snapdragon X Elite system." Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite devices are expected to hit the market in mid-2024 with "dramatic performance improvement in the Speedometer 2.0 benchmark" on reference hardware. Being one of the most essential applications, getting a native Chrome build to run on Windows-on-Arm is a significant step for the platform, promising more investment from software makers.

According to sources close to Reuters, NVIDIA is reportedly developing its custom CPUs based on Arm instruction set architecture (ISA), specifically tailored for the client ecosystem, also known as PC. NVIDIA has already developed an Arm-based CPU codenamed Grace, which is designed to handle server and HPC workloads in combination with the company's Hopper GPU. However, as we learn today, NVIDIA also wants to provide CPUs for PC users and to power Microsoft's Windows operating system. The push for more vendors of Arm-based CPUs is also supported by Microsoft, which is losing PC market share to Apple and its M-series of processors.

The creation of custom processors for PCs that Arm ISA would power makes the decades of x86-based applications either obsolete or in need of recompilation. Apple allows users to emulate x86 applications using the x86-to-Arm translation layer, and even Microsoft allows it for Windows-on-Arm devices. We are left to see how NVIDIA's solution would compete in the entire market of PC processors, which are expected to arrive in 2025. Still, the company could make some compelling solutions given its incredible silicon engineering history and performant Arm design like Grace. With the upcoming Arm-based processors hitting the market, we expect the Windows-on-Arm ecosystem to thrive and get massive investment from independent software vendors.

Qualcomm is poised to significantly rebrand its PC chip lineup as it transitions from the existing 8cx series to the Snapdragon X Series, designed to differentiate its PC chips from Snapdragon processors in mobile devices. The new Snapdragon X Series will incorporate Qualcomm's Oryon CPU SKU, based on Nuvia's IP and praised for its advanced performance and power efficiency. In addition to the new CPU core, Qualcomm also plans to use a dedicated NPU for accelerating on-device AI applications. However, questions remain regarding the reactions of hardware partners, particularly in response to Qualcomm's request for proprietary power management integrated circuits (PMICs) to be used alongside Oryon SoCs.

This strategic rebranding also entails new logos and badges for the system, symbolizing the shift in the product lineup, and the company plans to introduce a simplified tiering structure for its PC ecosystem. Qualcomm currently holds a dominant position as an Arm-based SoC manufacturer for Windows-on-Arm devices. With this rebranding, Qualcomm hopes to position itself competitively in performance and in marketing as well, with established PC chip providers like AMD and Intel, potentially expanding Arm's market share in the PC industry. Further insights and details regarding the Snapdragon X Series will be revealed during the forthcoming Snapdragon Summit, scheduled from October 24 to 26.

With the launch of Apple Silicon for Mac computers, Apple has established itself as a great user of the Arm instruction set. Starting with M1, the company released an entirely new family of products running Apple Silicon. Today, thanks to the research of Strategy Analytics company, we have information that Apple is capturing as much as 90% of the revenue share present in the Arm PC market. The Arm PC market is a tiny subset of the entire PC market, mainly equipped with one-off Windows-on-Arm devices, Chromebook PCs, and Apple Macs. With the naturally low prices of the remaining Arm PCs, Apple Arm PCs offer a relatively high price point and a much more incredible selection of products.

On the global scale, Arm PCs now account for 9% of the total PC market share, where x86 vendors are dominating the field. "Apple's M-series family of processors set the benchmark and gave Apple a 2-3-year lead over the rest of the Arm-based PC processor vendors. Qualcomm captured just 3% revenue share in the Arm-based notebook PC processor market in 2021 and lags Apple in CPU performance," said Sravan Kundojjala, Director of Handset Component Technologies service at Strategy Analytics. This points to a particular case of Apple's better product and feeding the demand with higher-performing processors. Qualcomm's acquisition of Nuvia should yield different results in the coming years, as the new IP is yet to appear in Qualcomm SoCs.

Qualcomm has been in the game of creating SoCs for the PC market with the company's Snapdragon lineup. These processors mainly were beefed-up versions of their mobile designs and were based on the Arm instruction set architecture (ISA). Microsoft has backed this effort by creation Windows-on-Arm (WoA) project that enables the Windows OS to operate on Arm processors. However, up until now, Qualcomm's designs were not very powerful as they represented a relatively moderate approach to the problem and almost made no sense of purchase compared to the standard laptops equipped with x86 processors from AMD and Intel. This is about to change.

According to the news from Investor Day yesterday, Qualcomm is preparing high-performance Arm SoCs for the PC market. The company has recently acquired Nuvia Inc., a startup focused on creating novel IPs based on Arm ISA. And this is what Qualcomm will use in building its next-generation PC processors. As the company plans, in August of 2022, it should start sampling OEM partners with these new chips, and we will be seeing them in consumers' hands in early 2023. If everything goes as planned, this should represent direct competition to AMD, Intel, and now Apple in the high-end SoC market. After PCs, the company plans to tackle datacenter, mobile, and automotive market.

Qualcomm is trying to get into the PC space with their mobile Snapdragon chips, which offer great battery and decent performance. However, so far only Apple managed to get the right formula for developing custom low-power, high-performance chips. It is exactly Apple's M1 processor in question that Qualcomm intends to mimic. According to the recent interview with Qualcomm's new CEO Cristiano Amon, we are informed that Qualcomm plans to produce laptop chips that would directly compete with Apple's. That means that, despite the ecosystem differences of Apple M1 (macOS) and Qualcomm Snapdragon (Windows-on-Arm), the company wants to deliver equal if not better performance and great battery life.

With the recent acquisition of Nuvia, Qualcomm has a team of very talented engineers to back up its claims. The company also recently hired some of the developers behind Apple's M1 chip. The company notes that it will be using only the best solutions for its upcoming SoC, which will include a 5G modem. Mr. Amon has also noted the following:

We needed to have the leading performance for a battery-powered device. If Arm, which we've had a relationship with for years, eventually develops a CPU that's better than what we can build ourselves, then we always have the option to license from Arm.

Designing a custom processor can be a rewarding thing. You can control your ecosystem surrounding it and get massive rewards in terms of application-specific performance uplift, or lower total cost of ownership. It seems like cloud providers have figured out that at their scale, designing a custom processor can get all of the above with the right amount of effort put into it. If you remember, in 2018, Amazon has announced its Graviton processor based on Arm instruction set architecture. Today, the company has almost 10% of its AWS instances based on the Graviton 1 or 2 processors, which is a massive win for a custom design.

Following Amazon's example, the next company to join the custom server processor race is going to be Microsoft. The Redmond based giant is looking to build a custom lineup of processors that are meant to satisfy Microsoft's most demanding sector - server space. The company's Azure arm is an important part where it has big and increasing revenue. By building a custom processor, it could satisfy the market needs better while delivering higher value. The sources of Bloomberg say that Microsoft is planning to use Arm ISA, and start building independence from the x86 vendors like Intel and AMD. Just like we saw with AWS, the industry cloud giants are starting to get silicon-independent and with their scale, they can drive the ecosystem surrounding the new processors forward rapidly. The sources are also speculating that the company is building custom processors for Surface PCs, and with Windows-on-Arm (WoA) project, Microsoft has laid the groundwork in that field as well.

In the past few years, the Windows-on-Arm (WoA) market has gotten some momentum has with companies trying to develop their WoA PCs, primarily laptops. One example of that is Microsoft. The company has launched a Surface notebook powered by a custom chip from Snapdragon, called Surface Pro X. This device is being powered by the Snapdragon SQ2 processor. However, what seemed to be missing for a while was the lack of support from the Arm itself for this type of market. That is what the company decided to change and make a brand new processor IP dedicated to "on-the-go" devices as they call it, translating into laptops.

The Cortex-A78C is a new design direction which Arm thinks is a good way for laptops, to get some more serious work done. Unlike the regular Cortex-A78 which is a heterogeneous design of big and little cores (Arm's famous big.LITTLE architecture), the new Cortex-A78C revision aims to change that. The "C" version of the processor is actually a homogeneous structure made up of all the big cores. Where you would typically use four big and four little cores for a design, Arm has decided to go all big with this design. For multithreaded purposes, this is the right decision to boost performance. The level three (L3) cache has seen a boost as well, translating to 8 MB of L3$ found on the die. We are eagerly awaiting to see the first designs based on this configuration and see how it performs.