Microsoft recently announced the "Copilot + PCs" strategy and concluded its Build developer conference.
While external attention is focused on AI PCs, Microsoft aims to play the role of a platform in addition to the product itself. In an interview with tech blogger Ben Thompson, CEO Satya Nadella and CTO Kevin Scott mentioned the "platform shift" in the AI era.
Being a platform is Microsoft's most familiar approach. Wintel is a platform, x86 is a platform, and Windows on Arm (WoA) is a platform. At the Build conference, Microsoft presented three major platforms: Microsoft Copilot, Copilot + PC, and the Copilot stack, targeting consumers, OEMs, and developers, respectively.
Thompson observed that Microsoft emphasizes the opportunities being a platform can bring. As time goes on and AI continues to bloom, Microsoft is gradually downplaying the role of Windows. When discussing platforms, Microsoft refers to foundational architectures such as x86 rather than the PC operating system itself.
To "become" a platform, leveraging a two-sided network is essential. There needs to be users, consumers, developers, and technology service providers to create a robust ecosystem.
Scott is quite confident in Microsoft's current partnerships, pointing out that Microsoft cannot achieve the PC revolution on its own. More often than not, it involves "Microsoft +," with Intel, Nvidia, and OEMs all being crucial partners. The platform Microsoft aims to build is massive in scale and frequently experiences exponential growth. Microsoft must have excellent collaboration capabilities as it simply cannot do everything by itself.
Microsoft has again anchored its AI PC products and made major updates to its Surface series. At the same time, companies such as Dell, HP, Lenovo, Asus, and Acer have all responded to the "Copilot + PCs" strategy by launching AI PCs. Microsoft expects that over the next 12 months, 5,000 AI PCs will be sold.
On the other hand, Microsoft's current situation is more like being in the right place at the right time. As early as 2012, Microsoft launched WoA products. Most Surface products also have Arm architecture versions, but they remained niche and less prominent in the past. Nadella stated that Microsoft has continuously invested in WoA and NPU for many years, but timing is the most crucial factor in the tech industry.
Thompson commented that since the advent of the browser, the importance of other applications has diminished, including reasons to purchase Windows. However, the ongoing resurgence of hardware is quite impressive.
At the start of the Surface event on May 20, Nadella mentioned that the current platform shift is still in its early stages. With the help of AI, Microsoft hopes to move from "us having to understand computers" to "computers that understand us." In addition to Copilot, the new "Recall" feature, which can help users find necessary information from fragmented memories, is also a significant innovation this time. Nadella also claimed that with the AI waves surging, Microsoft will redesign the operating system and hardware.
Article translated by Jack Wu
