Bulletins

Microsoft reportedly has plans to design its own server and PC chips based on Arm

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.

Tom Krazit

Tom Krazit ( @tomkrazit) is Protocol's enterprise editor, covering cloud computing and enterprise technology out of the Pacific Northwest. He has written and edited stories about the technology industry for almost two decades for publications such as IDG, CNET, paidContent, and GeekWire, and served as executive editor of Gigaom and Structure.

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