According to a Weibo post (via WCCFTech), according to someone who is reportedly partnering with Lenovo China, AMD will provide Windows10 drivers for the new chip, starting with the upcoming Strix Point Apu, which will allow Microsoft to install the AMD processor on the popular older operating system 10 years before Microsoft itself ends life support for Windows1. The support of the server will be effectively reduced.

"Win10 enthusiasts, starting with Strix Point, note that AMD does not provide Win10 drivers," reads the post, finishing with a sad panda emoji. 

Just to paint a picture of the number of "Win10 enthusiasts" there, it is estimated that windows10 now has a global market share of about 69% in terms of desktop operating system, and Windows11 has fallen to about 27%.

These Strix Point processors are chips that expect to adopt an entirely new naming scheme, and a whole new decoding to decipher its true meaning that would be Triple Figure Ryzen AI9HX170 et al.

And it looks like this innate AI-ness is preventing it from receiving the support of the associated Windows 10. These chips will be equipped with a dedicated NPU designed to provide native AI power-on silicon, providing up to 77 local AI processing on the APU alone. It could be a combination of an NPU (offering up to 45 AI tops) and an integrated GPU on top of it.

It's definitely an iGPU of more interest to PC gamers, with the potential to offer a 16RDNA3.5 computing unit and a gaming frame rate far beyond what we see on modern handheld PCs. And, realistically, it should still look at the support for the Windows 10 graphics driver from the Adrenalin suite.

But if you want to take advantage of the additional AI features baked into silicon, you have to run the latest Microsoft operating system, which means getting on the Windows11 bandwagon. It will inevitably come with more co-pilot fluff and extra AI-y features of questionable benefits to end users, but it probably looks really funky on the marketing department whiteboards and laptop specification sheets.

In any case, Microsoft hopes that the fuss around AI Pcs will help reverse the current trend of declining market share in Windows11. And AMD also expects to increase the number of people upgrading to a platform where "AI" is literally their middle name.