Taiwanese chip design giant MediaTek Inc (聯發科) is developing an Arm Holdings PLC-based PC chip that would run Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system, three people familiar with the matter said.
Last month, Microsoft unveiled a new generation of laptops that feature chips designed with Arm technology to provide enough horsepower to run artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The MediaTek chip is geared toward this effort.
Microsoft’s plans take aim at Apple Inc which has used its own Arm-based chips for Mac computers for about four years. In addition, the software company’s decision to optimize Windows for Arm could threaten Intel Corp’s longstanding dominance in the PC market.
Photo: Pichi Chuang, Reuters
The MediaTek PC chip is set to launch late next year after Qualcomm Inc’s exclusive deal to supply chips for laptops expires, two of the people said.
The chip is based on Arm’s ready-made designs, which can significantly speed development because less design work is needed using ready-made, tested chip components.
It was not immediately clear whether Microsoft has approved MediaTek’s PC chip for the Copilot+ Windows program.
MediaTek and Microsoft declined to comment, but the news boosted MediaTek’s shares to close up 2.36 percent in Taipei trading yesterday, compared with the broader market’s 1.18 percent rise, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.
Because the Qualcomm exclusivity arrangement with Microsoft expires this year, other designers have opted to build chips to help power Microsoft’s latest push to use Arm designs.
For decades, Windows machines have relied on chip architecture made by Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) and Intel. Meanwhile, Nvidia Corp and AMD are working on Arm designs for Windows machines.
The Nvidia effort for its PC chip involves help from MediaTek, a person familiar with the matter said.
The MediaTek effort for a PC chip is separate from its collaboration with Nvidia, two of the people said.
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