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AMD

This story is part of our coverage of Computex, the world’s biggest computing conference.

AMD and Intel are missing out on the Copilot+ boat. Despite AMD launching its Ryzen AI 300 CPUs and Intel previewing its Lunar Lake chips at Computex 2024, it seems these components won’t support the AI features available on Copilot+ PCs at launch. Instead, they’ll get support in the future through a software update.
Ryzen AI 300 and Lunar Lake both come with a neural processing unit (NPU) that meets Microsoft’s requirements for a Copilot+ PC, but Microsoft is initially restricting access to features like Recall and Auto Super Resolution to laptops with Snapdragon X Elite and Plus chips, reports The Verge.

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James Howell, a marketing manager from Microsoft, told the outlet that free updates will provide AMD and Intel PCs that meet the requirements with the AI features “when available.” AMD’s Matthew Hurwitz chimed in and said that it expects Copilot+ before the end of 2024, but Microsoft and Intel wouldn’t confirm any timeline.

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It’s not clear exactly when these features will arrive. During a Q&A session following Intel’s Lunar Lake reveal, Michelle Holthaus, executive vice president of client computing for Intel, said the company is “waiting for Microsoft to tell us when devices will have a day-one update.”

On June 14, AMD chief marketing officer John Taylor said the company is targeting Copilot+ availability for later this year on LinkedIn.

During the same Q&A session, Holthaus said the rollout for Lunar Lake will happen from the end of the year through February of next year. While we’ll get the first laptops with these chips sooner, there’s a good chance Microsoft will hold off on a software update for AMD and Intel until there’s broader availability.
There could very well be some exclusive deal Microsoft has struck with Qualcomm. Qualcomm has referred to itself as the “exclusive” platform for Copilot+ PCs, and Microsoft has had deals with Qualcomm in the past. One ended in 2021 and another at the beginning of 2024. We don’t have any reports on an exclusivity deal for Qualcomm and Microsoft for Copilot+, so take this as speculation. Still, there’s clearly some reason Microsoft is holding back Copilot+ updates for AMD and Intel.
As we’ve written before, Microsoft’s push for Copilot+ has as much to do with AI as it does with enabling Windows on Arm. Qualcomm certainly sees a bright future on Windows too. The company’s CEO has said previously it’s “not going anywhere” in PCs, suggesting we could see desktops and other form factors with Snapdragon chips in the future.
AMD and Intel will eventually get Copilot+ features, but don’t expect them at launch. Although AMD’s new chips are arriving in July and Intel will follow shortly after, it could be several months before Microsoft enables the software for Copilot+ on these devices.