Microsoft Said to Use Qualcomm Chips in Smaller Surface
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) is planning to introduce a new, smaller version of its Surface that will use Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) processors for the first time, according to people with knowledge of the companies' plans, a move that ends Nvidia …
Context & Ripple Effects
The reported move closes a loop Microsoft opened back in December 2010, when Bloomberg first reported plans for a version of Windows built for ARM chips — the bet that put non-x86 silicon at the center of its tablet strategy. Until now, that bet ran through Nvidia, which supplied the processors for the original Surface RT line.
If the report is right, a smaller, cheaper Surface would swap Nvidia for Qualcomm, giving the device a mainstream mobile-chip vendor whose silicon already powers most of the tablet market. The story traveled widely on pickup day — BGR, Gizmodo, The Verge, CNET, ZDNet and others all ran it — though both the Qualcomm adoption and the end of Nvidia's role remain unconfirmed reports sourced from people with knowledge of the companies' plans.
First-order effects
- Qualcomm would gain its first confirmed design win inside Microsoft's own Surface hardware, putting its processors in a flagship showcase device rather than just licensees' tablets.
- Nvidia's rumored exit would leave it without a Surface socket, cutting off one of the few places its Tegra line appeared in a Microsoft-branded product.
Second-order effects
- With Intel-based Surfaces also in the pipeline per the same reporting cycle, Microsoft's tablet line becomes a multi-vendor silicon contest, forcing Qualcomm, Nvidia and Intel to compete on price and power efficiency for each Surface tier.
- A cheaper, Qualcomm-powered small Surface pressures rival tablet makers' margins, since Microsoft would be bundling its own hardware, Office positioning and Windows licenses against Android and iPad devices at the low end.
Third-order effects
- If Microsoft keeps matching chip vendor to form factor rather than standardizing on one supplier, the Surface program institutionalizes per-device silicon selection — an early template for the multi-vendor, eventually custom-silicon approach PC makers have been drifting toward.
- Sustained Windows-on-ARM shipping volume would give Qualcomm and other mobile vendors a durable foothold in the PC market, gradually eroding the x86-only assumption that structured the industry for decades.
The trend: Tablet and PC makers are moving from single-supplier processor strategies to picking silicon per device tier, with Microsoft's Surface line serving as the highest-profile test bed.