Microsoft Pri0

Welcome to Microsoft Pri0: That's Microspeak for top priority, and that's the news and observations you'll find here from Seattle Times technology reporter Sharon Chan.

June 2, 2011 at 8:46 AM

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Qualcomm mobile chips will run Windows 8

Posted by Sharon Pian Chan

Qualcomm's mobile chips will run Windows 8, the company said Wednesday.

The San Diego, Calif., company makes chips for mobile devices. Qualcomm says a new Snapdragon chip will run Microsoft's next operating system. Qualcomm's Snapdragon chip line is used in smartphones such as Sony Ericsson's Xperia.

Previously, Windows required both a hard drive and a microprocessor, which made it difficult to fit into smaller devices such as tablets. Microsoft has designed Windows 8 with a new architecture so it can run on chip sets.

Qualcomm made the announcement at the Computex trade show in Taiwan.

Microsoft has talked mostly about chip designer ARM so far in its plans for Windows 8.

Microsoft's decision to work with ARM was a major fracture between Microsoft and Intel, who used to be BFF (short for "best friends forever"). Intel continues to support Windows on its chips for computers.

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