AMD is returning to the Arm architecture after more than a decade: the chip in development, codenamed Soundwave, would go into Microsoft's Surface laptops. According to Wccftech, the project aims to compete with Apple's MacBook Neo, the roughly $599 laptop that has put pressure on the whole Windows market.
AMD's last Arm work dates back to 2012, with the K12 SoC, which was then dropped to focus entirely on the x86 ecosystem and the development of the Zen cores. Jim Keller, who had pushed to continue down that path, saw his project halted despite the work already completed. The return is now reportedly driven by competition from Qualcomm, with the Snapdragon X2, and Nvidia, with the RTX Spark platform, both already working on Arm to challenge Apple's M-series chips.
AMD "Sound Wave" APU ที่ใช้สถาปัตยกรรม Arm ปรากฏในเอกสารการขนส่งสินค้า
The chip's technical details
According to Wccftech, Soundwave will use the BGA 1074 socket in a 32x27 mm package. The chip would have at least six Arm cores in a 2+4 configuration, meaning two performance and four efficiency cores, an RDNA 3.5 GPU with at least four cores and 16 MB of cache. Expected power draw is between 5 and 10 watts. The design was first spotted in 2024 as a next-generation 3nm APU; it was originally slated for Microsoft's 2026 Surface lineup, but the timeline has since shifted.
Pricing and timing
The 12- and 13-inch Surface models currently start at $1,149 and $1,299. A Soundwave-powered Surface should retail under $999, Wccftech estimates from its specifications, while noting that the final price depends on today's memory costs. Launch is pencilled in for 2027, with possible news at CES that year. With AMD, Microsoft would complete its trio of Arm-based Windows PCs, alongside the Snapdragon and RTX Spark models.
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