{"id":61636,"date":"2026-06-04T04:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T04:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/61636\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T04:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T04:12:10","slug":"build-2026-accumulating-evidence-of-microsofts-ai-independence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/61636\/","title":{"rendered":"Build 2026: Accumulating evidence of Microsoft\u2019s AI independence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Abundant use of the AI acronym is increasingly evident at various industry events. Strip away the hype layer and look deeper, however, and interesting trends still emerge into view.<\/p>\n

This is my third straight year covering Microsoft\u2019s developer-focused conference, following up on the 2024<\/a> and 2025 show editions<\/a>. And interestingly (at least to me), the event timing, both in an absolute sense and relative to other notable industry trade shows, has shifted each year.<\/p>\n

2024\u2019s Build took place on May 21-23, the week after Google\u2019s I\/O developer event (May 14-16) and several weeks before Computex (June 4-7)
\nLast year, all three conferences took place on the same week
\nAnd this year, the Google I\/O and Microsoft Build cadence returned to separate-weeks spacing, two weeks apart this time. Conversely, Build and Computex were still in the same-week slot.<\/p>\n

Why the upfront focus on this seeming nuance? Well, for one thing, Computex conversely is a consumer-tailored show. That\u2019s why, for example, Microsoft and NVIDIA co-announced one new computer (information on which I\u2019ll share shortly) at Computex, while introducing another with a different form factor but the exact same processing subsystem at Build. Plus, in emphasizing a point that is likely already obvious to at least some of you, any chronological spacing between two companies\u2019 events enables the latter to fine-tune its announcements and their messaging to react to the former\u2026and the more spacing the better from a reaction-robustness standpoint.<\/p>\n

Speaking of announcements, let\u2019s get to them, shall we? Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and his various lieutenants, along with a couple of special guests, covered a lot of ground in the 2.5-hour kickoff keynote, the video of which I\u2019ve embedded below. I\u2019ll hit what I thought were the highlights in the following paragraphs.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Early<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t06.01.2026<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Product<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t06.01.2026<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"AI-Accelerated<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t06.01.2026<\/p>\n

AI inference-accelerating hardware<\/p>\n

About those computers I just mentioned\u2026stop me if you\u2019ve heard this before. Microsoft and a partner roll out new Windows-on-Arm computer platforms, both mobile and mini-desktop in shape, and intended for both consumers and developers. Two years ago<\/a>, that partner was Qualcomm, the SoCs were the Snapdragon X Elite and Plus, and the consumer mobile systems were the Surface Laptop and Pro (also accompanied by ones from other OEMs, in a nod to Microsoft\u2019s broader Windows-on-Arm aspirations). The developer mini-desktop was the Snapdragon Dev Kit for Windows<\/a>, which never made it to production: Qualcomm \u201cindefinitely paused\u201d it<\/a> only a few months later:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This outcome was more than a bit of a surprise to me, albeit not a complete surprise, as I\u2019d been hearing for some time of both chronic hardware and software issues<\/a> with the platform. That said, I already owned (and still use) its two Qualcomm application processor-based, developer-tailored predecessors, the Qualcomm-branded ECS LIVA Mini Box QC710<\/a>:<\/p>\n

and Microsoft\u2019s \u201cProject Volterra\u201d (officially: Windows Dev Kit 2023<\/a>) system:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

so the Snapdragon Dev Kit for Windows was unsurprisingly on my wish list, too.<\/p>\n

Hopefully NVIDIA will have better luck, although the situation still feels somewhat embryonic. Consumer mobile system(s) first: launched at Computex and coming \u201cthis fall\u201d at an as-yet-unannounced price is the Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra<\/a>, based on NVIDIA\u2019s RTX Spark SoC<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

While you might not immediately recognize the processor from its new marketing moniker, you\u2019ve heard about it (from me, to be precise<\/a>) before. It was previously known as the N1 and N1X, as well as the GB10, and it\u2019s the outcome of a co-development project with MediaTek, who contributed the up-to-20-core CPU constellation and reportedly also took lead on full-chip integration, including the NVLink interconnect to the up-to-6,144 core GPU cluster.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The SoC\u2019s development has been lengthy and troubled, if longstanding and widespread rumors are to be believed<\/a>, and industry analyst skepticism remains existent<\/a>. It first appeared in a Linux-based system, the DGX Spark (rebranded from its initial name, Project DIGITS<\/a>), last October<\/a>:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

And now, NVIDIA has determined that the RTX Spark is finally ready for Windows-based laptops (and not just from Microsoft itself, just as was the case two years before with Qualcomm). But not now. \u201cThis fall\u201d. At a price to be announced later, but likely stratospheric if due only to the industry constraints-driven currently pricey \u201cup to 128GB of unified memory\u201d. And what about the developer mini-desktop system<\/a>, the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box<\/a>, unveiled at Build?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s\u2026umm\u2026a waitlist<\/a>. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella invited the Build attendees to join him on it. None of which inspires much in the way of confidence. Maybe one or both systems will be available for sale in time to end up on this November\u2019s edition of my yearly \u201cHoliday shopping guide for engineers\u201d, but at this point, I\u2019d be (pleasantly, mind you) surprised.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re once again feeling d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu, by the way, it\u2019s because Microsoft and NVIDIA have been here before. The initial attempt at bringing a Windows-on-Arm system to market, the Surface with Windows RT, was based on an NVIDIA Tegra SoC. I personally owned one and ended up tearing it apart<\/a> after it eventually died. The hardware was first-rate for the time, although a dearth of native software in conjunction with woeful x86 code emulation support doomed it.<\/p>\n

That was 2012. Jump forward again to the other, earlier-mentioned d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu moment, Qualcomm\u2019s announced partnership with Microsoft in 2024, and I feel compelled to point out that by no means is it seemingly deceased (or even on life support, for that matter). I recently acquired a gently used Microsoft Surface Pro 11<\/a> based on Qualcomm\u2019s Snapdragon X Plus to replace my long-in-the tooth Surface Pro X<\/a>. The SP11 has 16 GBytes of RAM and a 1 TByte SSD and runs solely on its integrated battery all day with ease, even when emulating x86. Microsoft systems based on second-generation Snapdragon X2 Elite (and presumably also Plus) SoCs are seemingly coming soon<\/a>. And on a similar note, Microsoft\u2019s still churning out branded systems based on x86 CPUs, too, with most recent updates less than a month ago<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Agentic-centric O\/Ss<\/p>\n

One particularly memorable quote<\/a> from Satya Nadella in the keynote was the following:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a real platform shift. We\u2019re moving from building operating systems, devices for apps, to agents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indicative of this forecasted shift is Project Solara, explained by means of a conversation between Nadella and Qualcomm President and CEO Cristiano Amon<\/a>:<\/p>\n

along with an Android-derived proof-of-concept demonstration showing agent-based interactions with (and between) a smart speaker with a screen, mobile devices, and intelligent ID cards. Google also spoke a great deal about agentic AI at its I\/O developer conference two weeks ago; instead of repeating myself again, I\u2019ll refer you to my coverage of that event<\/a> for the background info if you need it.<\/p>\n

Speaking of agents, Microsoft also announced Execution Containers, which keep agents from accessing unintended, critical regions of other agents and applications, the underlying operating system and system hardware. And for when you want to communicate with them, OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger showed up on stage by means of introducing Scout, an OpenClaw AI Assistant gateway. If you\u2019re thinking it sounds at least something like Gemini Spark, which Google announced two weeks back, you\u2019re not off-base. Remember my comments at the beginning of this piece about competing-event timing and ordering and effects on later-event messaging?<\/p>\n

Homegrown models<\/p>\n

Last but not least, let\u2019s touch on an event topic that prompted the \u201cAI Independence\u201d title of this piece. In late April<\/a>, OpenAI and Microsoft \u201credefined\u201d their business relationship<\/a>, in the process fundamentally freeing both companies from the various exclusivity arrangements that had previously defined (and arguably dominated) it. While a \u201cdivorce\u201d would be overstating the result, a \u201csofter\u201d term such as \u201cconscious uncoupling<\/a>\u201d wouldn\u2019t be far off.<\/p>\n

One tangible outcome of this redefinition was clearly evident this week, as Mustafa Suleyman, head of Microsoft AI, unveiled seven new homegrown AI models<\/a> with capabilities spanning image, voice and transcription functions and claimed performance matching if not exceeding that of Google, OpenAI and other competitors\u2019 models, both open- and closed-source. I was particularly interested in Suleyman\u2019s declaration regarding MAI-Thinking-1, the flagship reasoning model, that:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe trained it from the ground up on clean data, without distillation from third-party models.\u201d<\/p>\n

And with that, I\u2019ll wrap up for today. As always, I welcome your thoughts in the comments on the topics I\u2019ve covered here, as well as any others that might have caught your eye\u2014Microsoft\u2019s ongoing research work on quantum computing, for example, including the development of Majorana 2, the sequel to last year\u2019s premier quantum computing chip from the company.<\/p>\n

Next Monday, Tim Cook and his CEO successor John Ternus (I\u2019m assuming) will hit the stage to kick off Apple\u2019s yearly Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), completing the yearly big-tech-company developer conference triumvirate. I\u2019ll see you back here then, if not before!<\/p>\n

\u2014Brian Dipert<\/a> is the associate editor, as well as a contributing editor, at EDN.<\/p>\n

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