During its Surface event, Microsoft announced several interesting new Windows devices, but a successor to the ARM-based Surface Pro X was not among them. It now looks like Microsoft wants to design a new chip itself for future ARM hardware. For this it works together with AMD, Samsung and TSMC.
Leak specialist FronTron knows this and is also stated on the Korean forum website Clien. On the CPU side, Microsoft would build the ARM processor around one or more Cortex-X1 cores. There is no clarity about the exact configuration, although there is a good chance that Microsoft will opt for a big. Little configuration with a few other economical cores.
AMD and Samsung
For the graphics work, Microsoft is partnering with AMD. The GPU component will be based on the company’s mRDNA2 architecture. The graphics capabilities of the ARM chip should approach that of a GTX 1050.
Samsung is also cooperating. After all, the ARM processor would get an Exynos 2200 5G modem. Originally, Samsung would also bake the chips in its factories, but due to problems with the yield of the 5 nm process, Microsoft is rumored to opt for TSMC.
The custom chip could give Windows on ARM a much-needed boost. Microsoft is strongly committed to the ecosystem, but that is currently inferior to Apple’s alternative. That company provides homemade ARM chips for its laptops that wipe the floor with Windows alternatives. The Microsoft chip would therefore not come exclusively to Surface hardware, so that other manufacturers can also get to work with it.
