Microsoft is said to be working on new processors specifically for Windows computers. The Windows Builder is looking for new people for this.

Microsoft is looking for new talent for its chip team and is working on its own processors for Windows computers, according to Windows Latest. These are chips based on the ARM architecture, presumably tailored to the future Windows 12 operating system.

Microsoft wants to compete with Apple’s M chips with its own optimized CPUs. They are also based on the ARM architecture. The synergy between software and hardware is great at Apple, with tweaks resulting in better performance and battery life.

Microsoft has previously developed its own ARM-based chips with the SQ1 and SQ3. The latter chip can be found in the Microsoft Surface Pro 9, among others. “Own” is a big word here, since the processors are based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8cx design.

Limited support

Additionally, compared to Apple, it still lacks Windows software support for ARM-based devices. Apple tries to exclusively use the ARM ecosystem and its own chips, while Microsoft mainly develops software for x86 processors. As a result, developers building Windows applications are less likely to rely on the few ARM devices that Microsoft sells or doesn’t sell by tweaking their own software.

ARM for Windows is currently still a marginal product. A new optimized chip for Windows 12 can certainly change that if Microsoft places itself completely under ARM and also thinks about the surrounding ecosystem.

Windows 12 is not planned until 2024. Whether and how new Microsoft chips fit into this story is unclear.