Microsoft unveiled the Pluton security chip in November 2020, intending to deploy it to all Windows 10 PCs. None of Microsoft’s OEMs didn’t unveil their first Pluton-powered PCs until today, January 4. At CES, Lenovo unveiled its ThinkPad Z series laptops with Windows 11 and the Microsoft Pluton CPU, which are powered by AMD’s Ryzen-6000 processor.

In May 2022, the ThinkPad Z series laptops will be available for purchase. These devices will be able to obtain upgraded firmware via Windows Update thanks to Pluton. According to Microsoft, Pluton will help safeguard Windows Hello credentials in the ThinkPad Z13 and Z16, further separating them from attackers.

Pluton will be used as the TPM in these new ThinkPads to safeguard encryption keys from physical assaults, according to Microsoft officials.

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Pluton was initially used by Microsoft in Azure Sphere, a Linux-based microcontroller, and Xbox. Pluton may be customized in three ways, according to Microsoft officials in a blog post published on January 4th: As the Trusted Platform Module (TPM); as a security processor for non-TPM circumstances such as platform resilience; or within a device where the chip has been switched off by the OEM.

Officials stated that Windows users and IT administrators would be able to utilize Pluton to safely connect with other hardware security components in a way that provides resilience signals that may be used for zero-trust conditional access.

These signals will be reported to services like Intune it through Azure Attestation service at some time in the future, according to officials.