Thursday, January 22, 2026
Technology
7 min read

NVIDIA Chips Powering Windows on Arm PCs: Here's What We Know

Windows Central
January 20, 20262 days ago
NVIDIA Windows on Arm PCs might finally be happening

AI-Generated Summary
Auto-generated

NVIDIA's N1X chips are reportedly set to debut in Windows on Arm PCs in early 2026. This follows earlier delays attributed to Microsoft, chip redesigns, and economic factors. The N1X is expected to offer high-end performance, potentially rivaling desktop GPUs and outperforming competitors in AI tasks, targeting the premium market segment.

The talk of NVIDIA putting its chips inside Windows on Arm PCs isn't new, and it certainly feels like it comes around every year at this point. However, as we enter 2026, it's back. This time, apparently, it's actually going to happen for real. A new report from DigiTimes supply chain sources suggests that the first laptops powered by NVIDIA's N1X could be debuting as early as the first quarter of this year. We've previously heard that NVIDIA N1/N1X laptops were originally supposed to launch at some point during 2025. Rumors began as early as 2023, and in mid-2025, the first leaked performance benchmarks of the N1X gave us hope. But the rumored Computex 2025 reveal never happened. DigiTimes had previously reported that supply chain sources placed some of the blame on Microsoft, specifically "Microsoft OS timelines." Other factors reportedly include NVIDIA chip redesigns, and global economic situations. Lest we forget the ongoing threat of tariffs from the United States ever looming. The NVIDIA N1 is actually already out in the world. CEO, Jensen Huang, confirmed that the GB10 inside the DGX Spark AI Supercomputer is actually an N1 in disguise. While these systems are based on Linux, it does at least offer an insight into the sort of performance we could be expecting. The GB10 features a 20-core ARM CPU paired with an NVIDIA Blackwell GPU, and boasts up to 1,000 TOPS of total AI performance. The CPU is capable of outperfoming AMD's Strix Halo (AI Max 395+) and the GPU performance can hit RTX 5070 levels. The short version is that should we actually see N1X-powered PCs launching this year, they're not going to target the affordable end of the spectrum. For that, we'll still be looking towards Qualcomm's lower-tier Snapdragon X chips, but at the high-end, things could get interesting. NVIDIA is obviously massively invested in the AI market right now, and we can all but guarantee there will be an AI-spin applied to any N1X powered hardware that may release. But aside from that, it would just be nice to finally see Windows on Arm getting another shot in the, well, arm. Qualcomm's Snapdragon X platform has changed the game, but competition is ultimately what will drive Windows on Arm forward.

Rate this article

Login to rate this article

Comments

Please login to comment

No comments yet. Be the first to comment!
    NVIDIA Windows on Arm PCs: Launching Q1 2026?