Microsoft will use a Build 2026 session to show developers how to port x86 apps to Windows on Arm using AI agents.
NVIDIA and Microsoft aim to usher in "a new era of PC" with RTX Spark. That chip, which is a Windows on Arm processor, is a powerhouse workstation that could brute force its way to run just about any app. But the RTX Spark won't have to flex as hard to run native Arm applications.
Microsoft and Qualcomm have pushed Windows on Arm for years, and now NVIDIA has joined the fight. Microsoft claims that 90% of time spent on Windows on Arm PCs is spent within natively compiled apps. The tech giant appears eager to close that gap.
A session at Microsoft Build focuses on how to port x86 apps to run natively on Windows on Arm by using AI. Agents are a major theme of Build 2026. Those AI assistants can perform actions and handle the more mundane and repetitive aspects of coding.
"See where ARM performance gains are real today, and how agentic AI can help convert and validate x86 applications for speed, compatibility, and scale," reads the Build session description.
In this context, "native" refers to an app being optimized for a specific architecture, such as ARM64. The term native can also refer to a program that is not a webview app. Microsoft also helps developers make the other type of native apps, they're just not the focus here.
If you listen to online trolls, you'd believe Windows on Arm is incredibly niche and all of your favorite apps are incompatible. The reality is that a large number of popular apps run natively on Windows on Arm PCs. I suggest checking "Works on WoA" to check the compatibility of your must-have apps.
Apps that do not run natively need to run through Microsoft's Prism emulation. Between native apps and emulation, a large library of apps are available on Arm-powered PC.
But a large library is not the same as a comprehensive library. There are some legacy applications, enterprise apps, and other programs that will not run well on Windows on Arm systems. In select cases, required apps will not work at all.
To fill those gaps, developers need to port their apps to Windows on Arm. The Build session runs through the tools developers can use to port apps, including debuggers, profilers, and compilers.
Qualcomm's Gaurav Goel will lead the session, which runs for 15 minutes on Wednesday, June 3 at 6:20 PM ET.
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