One of the longest partnerships in the history of the tech industry will be tested next year if Microsoft unveils a custom chip based on Arm technology, as reported Friday.
The Windows half of the famed "Wintel" partnership is using designs licensed by Arm to build a server processor as well as a PC processor, according to Bloomberg. The long-rumored move would see Microsoft follow the lead of AWS in designing an Arm processor for its cloud customers, and go a step further by producing a chip that would run Windows PCs.
Any Microsoft-designed server chip would be a blow to Intel, which controls a very large portion of the market for data-center processors. And Apple's custom Arm chips have earned rave reviews from buyers of its latest Mac editions, threatening Intel's presence in the PC market as well.
Intel's stock fell 6% on the report in after-hours trading.