Windows on Arm exclusivity may be a thing of the past soon — Arm CEO confirms Qualcomm's agreement with Microsoft expires this year

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Opening the doors for other manufacturers, such as AMD or Nvidia

An image of the Arm x Qualcomm-powered Microsoft Surface Pro X
An image of the Arm x Qualcomm-powered Microsoft Surface Pro X (Image credit: Microsoft)

Qualcomm’s exclusivity agreement with Microsoft to provide CPUs for Windows on Arm PCs has been rumored to expire in 2024. Still, Arm CEO Rene Haas is the first person to confirm it officially in an interview with Stratechery. The end of the exclusivity agreement means Windows on Arm PCs can start to use non-Qualcomm Arm chips in the coming years.

Microsoft chose Qualcomm as its partner for Windows on Arm PCs in 2016, and ever since Qualcomm has been the only company to make Arm chips for Windows devices. This was never framed as an exclusivity agreement, but after a few years, it became pretty clear that this was the case; Qualcomm is the only company to have made Arm CPUs for Windows on Arm in the eight years since the partnership was announced.

There has been significant speculation on the end date for this exclusivity deal. Reuters claimed the agreement would end this year in its bombshell report about AMD and Nvidia making Arm CPUs for Windows. Haas confirmed the date during an interview with Stratechery, saying, “I think it’s really well-documented that the exclusivity that Qualcomm has with Windows times out, I think, this year.”

Haas didn't explicitly say that the exclusivity ends this year. Still, he probably wouldn’t describe the rumors as “well-documented” unless he believed it -- and he's the CEO of Arm, which lends credibility to the idea. The exact date the exclusivity arrangement ends isn’t precise, but it will seemingly be gone by the start of 2025.

The end of Qualcomm’s exclusivity will mean other companies can make Arm CPUs for laptops, and if Reuters is correct, those CPUs will be coming from AMD and Nvidia. Though neither company has specifically made ArmM CPUs for laptops or desktops, AMD and Nvidia seem poised for it. AMD has said it’s ready to make ARM CPUs if needed, while Nvidia has experience in Arm with its Grace server CPUs. For its part, Intel doesn’t feel threatened by the prospect of a new generation of Arm chips for PCs, though the company’s confidence hasn’t always been well-founded.

Matthew Connatser
Matthew Connatser

Matthew Connatser is a freelancing writer for Tom's Hardware US. He writes articles about CPUs, GPUs, SSDs, and computers in general.

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22 Comments Comment from the forums
  • hotaru251

    For its part, Intel doesn’t feel threatened by the prospect of a new generation of Arm chips for PCs, though the company’s confidence hasn’t always been well-founded.


    oh Intel...will you never learn.
    Reply
  • punkncat
    In order to be a "thing of the past" isn't there some requirement to have "been a thing" in the first place. I was not aware that this format was widely accepted enough to make a drop in the bucket, much less to be missed. I honestly cannot imagine how an experience on an OS with the overhead that Windows requires being particularly pleasant on a mobile phone/tablet chip. Heck the kneecapped Atom and such processors were obsolete before they were physically made....perhaps I am missing something?
    Reply
  • ThomasKinsley
    punkncat said:
    In order to be a "thing of the past" isn't there some requirement to have "been a thing" in the first place. I was not aware that this format was widely accepted enough to make a drop in the bucket, much less to be missed. I honestly cannot imagine how an experience on an OS with the overhead that Windows requires being particularly pleasant on a mobile phone/tablet chip. Heck the kneecapped Atom and such processors were obsolete before they were physically made....perhaps I am missing something?
    If the leaks are anything to go by, Windows 12 is set to release this June with a more mobile-friendly UI and greater optimization for ARM. Hopefully that means less bloat. As for ARM, the latest chips are definitely capable of running Windows, coming close to desktop-class performance and rivaling comparative Intel chips from within the last 4-5 years. The M3 Mac has significantly closed the gap with the Pro and Max models trading blows with current gen CPUs.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    Qualcomm’s exclusivity agreement with Microsoft to provide CPUs for Windows on Arm PCs has been rumored to expire in 2024.
    I believe this agreement was self-defeating. Qualcomm had more to lose by the Windows/ARM market failing to materialize & penetrate into the corporate market than they had to gain by maintaining a lock on it.

    For Microsoft, it's obviously a pure loss. Qualcomm needed MS a lot more than MS needed Qualcomm. MS should've never entered into it. So far, I think it's been more like a suicide pact than a recipe for success, for either party.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    punkncat said:
    Windows requires being particularly pleasant on a mobile phone/tablet chip. Heck the kneecapped Atom and such processors were obsolete before they were physically made....perhaps I am missing something?
    Qualcomm's Snapdragon laptop SoCs aren't the fastest CPUs that run Windows, but they easily beat many lower-end x86 CPUs that support Windows 11. That means there should be some market opportunity for them.

    Once Qualcomm's new generation of CPUs finally launches with their own/Nuvia's cores, they should be propelled into the same performance tier as Apple.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    From the article:
    those CPUs will be coming from AMD and Nvidia. Though neither company has specifically made Arm CPUs for laptops or desktops
    Depends on how you feel about Google's Pixel C, which was powered by a Nvidia SoC:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_C
    Although Wikipedia describes it as a "tablet computer", I recall Google selling it more like a laptop. I guess is was probably in the same class as MS Surface.
    Reply
  • Findecanor
    punkncat said:
    Heck the kneecapped Atom and such processors were obsolete before they were physically made....perhaps I am missing something?
    I've had three Intel Atom-based PCs throughout the years, one which I still use almost daily. Just because they are not suitable for your use-cases does not make them unsuitable for someone else's.
    Reply
  • HopefulToad
    The thread title and link are missing a key word here that drastically changes the meaning of the heading (emphasis added):

    Windows on Arm exclusivity may be a thing of the past soon — Arm CEO confirms Qualcomm's agreement with Microsoft expires this year
    Reply
  • punkncat
    Findecanor said:
    I've had three Intel Atom-based PCs throughout the years, one which I still use almost daily. Just because they are not suitable for your use-cases does not make them unsuitable for someone else's.

    Fair enough. If it works for you, go with it.

    I put quite a few of those little "web-books" on Linux distro.
    Reply
  • dnbdave
    punkncat said:
    Fair enough. If it works for you, go with it.

    I put quite a few of those little "web-books" on Linux distro.
    Never heard of "web-books", are they anything like netbooks?
    Reply