Microsoft’s Surface products have largely used Intel chips even though the company has used ARM chips for some Surface products many years ago. It might be thinking about a return to ARM and possibly even using AMD chips for new Surface products. A report claims that Microsoft’s relationship with Intel is on shaky ground and that the company is testing AMD and ARM chips for future products.
The report claims that Microsoft is testing the AMD Picasso SoC for a Surface Laptop variant while it’s also toying with a Snapdragon chip for a future Surface Pro model. The Pro device that runs the ARM chip is reportedly being developed on-campus by Microsoft in Redmond. Devices like the Surface Go had been outsourced to ODM (Original Device Manufactures). That doesn’t appear to be the case this time around.
The report goes on to mention that Microsoft has actually been developing a custom SoC codenamed Excalibur and that the company has worked very closely with Qualcomm to make this chipset that’s based on their own specifications in a bid that it would work better with Windows 10.
This doesn’t mean that Microsoft will ditch Intel entirely. Even if these prototypes make the cut and AMD and ARM chips make it to Surface products, Microsoft will reportedly offer new iterations of the Surface Book, Pro, and other devices that will also feature Intel chips.