In Microsoft's internal test of Cobalt 200 on chip-design software, Xcelium, the tool that simulates chip designs, reaches 4.15 times the per-logical-core throughput of Cobalt 100.

Concept illustration: at the top right are an emblem of four coloured squares and the lettering MICROSOFT; below them, a frame with a flat top beam and side columns is divided by a vertical line into two bays, each with a panel near the top that has a black header lettered XCELIUM above several ruled lines. At the bottom of each bay sits a black chip with pins: the left one, lettered COBALT 100, carries a single layer of pale cream striped blocks, and the right one, lettered COBALT 200, carries five layers of brick-red striped blocks reaching almost to the panel above, against a pale pink patch. Printed on the image: 4.15x per-logical-core throughput, Microsoft's test.

Microsoft shows its own chip-design flow can run on Arm, but this is an internal test and no per-dollar performance was published. Tools from Cadence, Synopsys and Siemens run unmodified. Against the best x86 test machine, Cobalt 200 leads by 11% to about 44%. Those results are normalized per logical core, which favors machines without hyperthreading (Microsoft, 2026-11-05). How we checked →

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This item ran in the brief of Nov 6, 2026, alongside 17 other items. How we checked it, the quote checks and what was still missing that day are on that issue's How we checked page.

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SecondSource (2026). "In Microsoft's internal test of Cobalt 200 on chip-design software, Xcelium, the tool that simulates chip designs, reaches 4.15 times the per-logical-core throughput of Cobalt 100.." https://secondsource.io/en/news/2026-11-06-6/. Accessed access date.