1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,080 Tech tends to be a copycat kind of business, and it looks like Microsoft is considering 2 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:08,080 a high-profile copycat move at the moment, 3 00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:11,480 making its own CPUs. The company they'd be copying, of course, 4 00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:17,640 is none other than their old rival, Apple, whose M1 and M2 chips, based on the ARM architecture, 5 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:22,600 have been extremely impressive in terms of performance and power efficiency. 6 00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:25,760 Though this isn't that surprising, considering that Apple designed them 7 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:29,160 to integrate tightly with the company's own software. 8 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:35,240 But Windows is a very different beast in the sense that it'll run on just about any PC, 9 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:38,520 and it doesn't just ship on Microsoft's own systems, 10 00:00:38,520 --> 00:00:44,160 like the Surface lineup. And believe it or not, Microsoft has recently tried to do bespoke silicon 11 00:00:44,160 --> 00:00:48,840 with the SQ1, which showed up in 2019's Surface Pro X. 12 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:52,480 Thing is, it didn't go as well as Apple's M series. 13 00:00:52,480 --> 00:00:55,920 So then, why would Microsoft be trying to design its own chips again? 14 00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:59,920 Massacism? At this point, we can only offer some educated speculation, 15 00:00:59,920 --> 00:01:05,880 as the rumors are based on a couple of facts. One, that Microsoft is hiring chip architects, 16 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:09,880 and just the broader market forces that seem to be at play, 17 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:15,680 being that Redmond is likely threatened by the success that Apple has had with their M1 and M2. 18 00:01:15,680 --> 00:01:19,160 Apple Silicon has created a multi-billion dollar increase 19 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:24,080 in revenue for the Mac division, and this doesn't just spell bad news for Surface, 20 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:28,000 but for all Windows devices, especially on the mobile side, 21 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:32,560 since the superior battery life of M Silicon is a major selling point. 22 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:35,800 But there's another reason that Microsoft might dive into chip design 23 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:38,960 that has both everything and nothing to do with Apple. 24 00:01:38,960 --> 00:01:44,280 Apple's breakup with Intel wasn't just about wanting to optimize its hardware for its own software. 25 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:47,360 There have been lots of rumblings about Apple's frustration 26 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:53,840 with Intel's slow pace of development, and even though Team Blue has shifted to hybrid CPU design, 27 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:58,520 specifically to improve battery life on laptops, there hasn't been too much from Intel 28 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:01,960 that you could truly call groundbreaking in quite some time. 29 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:06,800 And to be fair to them, part of this may be due to the x86 architecture itself, 30 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:10,200 as it's not like Apple ditched Intel just to make a deal with AMD. 31 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:14,520 So it's natural that Microsoft would also want to go a completely different route 32 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:20,560 to take advantage of the higher performance per watt that is typically associated with ARM-based chip designs, 33 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:24,240 especially if they feel that the Intel AMD duopoly is holding them back. 34 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:27,440 But one big obstacle that Microsoft may have to face 35 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:30,720 is exactly how they will integrate Windows 36 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:34,400 with a different chip architecture, even one that they developed for themselves. 37 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:37,680 Windows has been primarily written for x86 chips 38 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:40,880 for over 35 years. And although Microsoft has been trying 39 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:44,280 to push Windows on ARM for, I mean, over a decade now, 40 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:49,960 the vast majority of Windows software is written to run on x86 chips. 41 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:54,640 And unlike a typical Mac user, there are a huge number of Windows users 42 00:02:54,640 --> 00:02:59,400 who don't necessarily make extensive use of the included first-party software. 43 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:03,680 Meaning that without a plan for robust third-party software support, 44 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:06,920 Microsoft's foray into throwing significant resources 45 00:03:06,920 --> 00:03:11,680 at its own chip could end up backfiring. But there's another consideration we haven't discussed yet. 46 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:16,320 The fact that Windows 12 is expected to rely more heavily on AI features. 47 00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:21,000 We've already seen Microsoft integrate chat GPT into Bing and Office. 48 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:26,160 And it looks like they would like a chip with part of the dye dedicated to AI and machine learning 49 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:29,400 without waiting around to see what Intel and AMD come up with. 50 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:33,120 This reflects a broader trend where companies like Amazon and Google 51 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:37,560 have been putting their own silicon into everything from data centers to smartphones. 52 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:40,880 And Microsoft has even been reported to be looking at custom chips 53 00:03:40,880 --> 00:03:46,800 for its Azure cloud computing platform as well. Ultimately, we're gonna find out exactly what their plan is 54 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:51,400 no sooner than late 2024 when most industry insiders are expecting Windows 12 55 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:55,200 to be released. But until then, all we can do is hope that it goes better 56 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:59,080 than when Microsoft tried to sell us the Zoom RIP. 57 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:03,240 If you enjoyed this video, hey, leave a like and check out our other videos. 58 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:08,480 Or you can leave a comment with suggestions for how we could do better or any future topics you'd like to see covered. 59 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:10,080 And don't forget to subscribe.