Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is looking to tap into reduced energy consumption from low-power processors, and has apparently requested that Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) develop a 16-core version of its Atom chip for its servers. The revelation came from Dileep Bhandarkar, a distinguished engineer with Microsoft's Global Foundation Services, in a recent speech where he highlighted the "huge opportunity" of leveraging this new breed of energy-efficient processors in the company's operations.

Microsoft's cloud initiatives--as well as existing services such as its Bing search engine and Hotmail email service--certainly give it more than enough clout to pressure vendors to design equipment around its needs. An additional bonus here is how Microsoft has complete control over the operating environment on which its various services run.

Whether an 16-core Atom processor materializes or not, Microsoft is certainly open to alternative processor architecture too. Bhandarkar said, "If ARM can show us enough value over an x86 solution we might consider that," though he did concede that instruction set transitions are "extremely painful" in general. As expected, Intel has said it has "no announcements to make" in relation to using its Atom chips in the data center.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at PC World

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