by Jason Snell
Qualcomm has an exclusivity deal with Microsoft for Windows on ARM
Rich Woods reports about Windows on ARM and where it may be headed in the future:
Qualcomm actually has an exclusivity deal with Microsoft for Windows on ARM, and speaking with people familiar with it, we’ve learned that the deal is set to expire soon.
Other than the fact that Microsoft has publicly said that anyone who wants to can build a Windows on ARM chip, this really shouldn’t come as a surprise. Qualcomm didn’t just start building PC chips hoping that Microsoft would compile Windows to support it. No, these two companies worked together to make it happen. Because of that, Qualcomm gets to enjoy a bit of exclusivity… This is also presumably why Apple Silicon Macs aren’t officially supported for running Windows 11, so hopefully that will change as well.
When this exclusivity window expires, I would be shocked if there weren’t an official way to run Windows on Macs with Apple silicon soon thereafter.