Arm Takes Aim at Windows: Over Half of PCs to Run Arm Chips in 5 Years

For a long time, x86 processors have dominated the Windows PC market. However, with Microsoft’s collaboration with Qualcomm on Windows on Arm, the landscape is beginning to shift. Qualcomm’s introduction of the Snapdragon X series processors this year is poised to bring significant changes to Windows PCs. Rumor has it that within the next 12 to 36 months, several chip design companies will enter the Windows PC market by developing Arm architecture processors.

According to reports from Reuters, Arm CEO Rene Haas recently stated in an interview that by 2029, it is expected that over 50% of Windows PCs will run on chips based on Arm architecture, rather than traditional x86 processors. Haas believes that Microsoft’s support for the Arm ecosystem in recent years has far surpassed Arm’s previous efforts. From a software perspective, Microsoft is highly committed to advancing Windows on Arm.

At COMPUTEX 2024, Qualcomm President and CEO Cristiano Amon emphasized in his keynote speech how the Copilot+ PC, powered by the Snapdragon X series, is revolutionizing the PC industry. Technical demonstrations and benchmark tests indicate that devices equipped with the Snapdragon X series exclusively support the Copilot+ PC experience, offering outstanding battery life and energy efficiency, and providing an excellent on-device AI experience.

Although Windows on Arm has been around for several years and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus processors have indeed made some breakthroughs this year, making them competitive with x86 architecture processors, the idea of overturning a market dominated by x86 for the past 40 years within just a few years still seems somewhat incredible.