SEATTLE, May 20 Reuters Microsoft plans to announce several pieces of hardware and software related to consumer devices on Monday at an event at its Redmond, Washington, campus.

The Windows maker is expected to reveal a new version of its Surface Pro tablet and Surface Laptop that feature Qualcomm chips based on Arm Holdings39;, architecture.

After Intel39;s processors dominated the personal computer market for decades, Qualcomm and other makers of lowerpower Arm components have tried to compete in the WindowsPC market.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chips include a socalled neural processing unit that is designed to accelerate AIfocused applications, such as Microsoft39;s Copilot software.

Microsoft39;s product event, a day before the start of its annual developer conference, is open to journalists and industry analysts who attend in person. It will not be livestreamed.

Microsoft aims to extend its early advantage in the race to produce AI tools that consumers are willing to pay for. Its partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI allowed it to jump ahead of Alphabet, as other Big Tech companies race to dominate the emerging field.

Last week, OpenAI and Alphabet39;s Google showcased dueling AI technologies that can respond via voice in real time and be interrupted, both hallmarks of realistic voice conversations that AI voice assistants have found challenging. Google also announced it was rolling out several generative AI features to its lucrative search engine.

The PC…