WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.080 Tech tends to be a copycat kind of business, and it looks like Microsoft is considering 00:00:05.080 --> 00:00:08.080 a high-profile copycat move at the moment, 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:11.480 making its own CPUs. The company they'd be copying, of course, 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, 00:00:17.640 --> 00:00:22.600 have been extremely impressive in terms of performance and power efficiency. 00:00:22.600 --> 00:00:25.760 Though this isn't that surprising, considering that Apple designed them 00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:29.160 to integrate tightly with the company's own software. 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, 00:00:35.240 --> 00:00:38.520 and it doesn't just ship on Microsoft's own systems, 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 00:00:44.160 --> 00:00:48.840 with the SQ1, which showed up in 2019's Surface Pro X. 00:00:48.840 --> 00:00:52.480 Thing is, it didn't go as well as Apple's M series. 00:00:52.480 --> 00:00:55.920 So then, why would Microsoft be trying to design its own chips again? 00:00:55.920 --> 00:00:59.920 Massacism? At this point, we can only offer some educated speculation, 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, 00:01:05.880 --> 00:01:09.880 and just the broader market forces that seem to be at play, 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. 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:19.160 Apple Silicon has created a multi-billion dollar increase 00:01:19.160 --> 00:01:24.080 in revenue for the Mac division, and this doesn't just spell bad news for Surface, 00:01:24.080 --> 00:01:28.000 but for all Windows devices, especially on the mobile side, 00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:32.560 since the superior battery life of M Silicon is a major selling point. 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:35.800 But there's another reason that Microsoft might dive into chip design 00:01:35.800 --> 00:01:38.960 that has both everything and nothing to do with Apple. 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. 00:01:44.280 --> 00:01:47.360 There have been lots of rumblings about Apple's frustration 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, 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:58.520 specifically to improve battery life on laptops, there hasn't been too much from Intel 00:01:58.520 --> 00:02:01.960 that you could truly call groundbreaking in quite some time. 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, 00:02:06.800 --> 00:02:10.200 as it's not like Apple ditched Intel just to make a deal with AMD. 00:02:10.200 --> 00:02:14.520 So it's natural that Microsoft would also want to go a completely different route 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, 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:24.240 especially if they feel that the Intel AMD duopoly is holding them back. 00:02:24.240 --> 00:02:27.440 But one big obstacle that Microsoft may have to face 00:02:27.440 --> 00:02:30.720 is exactly how they will integrate Windows 00:02:30.720 --> 00:02:34.400 with a different chip architecture, even one that they developed for themselves. 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:37.680 Windows has been primarily written for x86 chips 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:40.880 for over 35 years. And although Microsoft has been trying 00:02:40.880 --> 00:02:44.280 to push Windows on ARM for, I mean, over a decade now, 00:02:44.280 --> 00:02:49.960 the vast majority of Windows software is written to run on x86 chips. 00:02:49.960 --> 00:02:54.640 And unlike a typical Mac user, there are a huge number of Windows users 00:02:54.640 --> 00:02:59.400 who don't necessarily make extensive use of the included first-party software. 00:02:59.400 --> 00:03:03.680 Meaning that without a plan for robust third-party software support, 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:06.920 Microsoft's foray into throwing significant resources 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. 00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:16.320 The fact that Windows 12 is expected to rely more heavily on AI features. 00:03:16.320 --> 00:03:21.000 We've already seen Microsoft integrate chat GPT into Bing and Office. 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 00:03:26.160 --> 00:03:29.400 without waiting around to see what Intel and AMD come up with. 00:03:29.400 --> 00:03:33.120 This reflects a broader trend where companies like Amazon and Google 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:37.560 have been putting their own silicon into everything from data centers to smartphones. 00:03:37.560 --> 00:03:40.880 And Microsoft has even been reported to be looking at custom chips 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 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:51.400 no sooner than late 2024 when most industry insiders are expecting Windows 12 00:03:51.400 --> 00:03:55.200 to be released. But until then, all we can do is hope that it goes better 00:03:55.200 --> 00:03:59.080 than when Microsoft tried to sell us the Zoom RIP. 00:03:59.080 --> 00:04:03.240 If you enjoyed this video, hey, leave a like and check out our other videos. 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. 00:04:08.480 --> 00:04:10.080 And don't forget to subscribe.