Microsoft rebuilds Edge as Chromium-based browser

On 06/12/2018, Microsoft announced that it would rebuild its Edge web browser using the open-source Chromium project, replacing the company’s in-house EdgeHTML rendering engine with the Blink engine used by Google Chrome. The move marked a major shift in Microsoft’s browser strategy and aimed to improve compatibility with modern websites while expanding Edge beyond Windows 10. Microsoft confirmed that the new Chromium-based Edge would also be available on macOS and earlier versions of Windows. Microsoft said switching to Chromium would address website compatibility issues that had affected the original Edge browser. By adopting the Blink rendering engine and Chromium codebase, Microsoft aimed to ensure consistent behavior across websites and reduce development complexity for web developers. The company also stated that the browser would become a standalone application, allowing faster updates independent of Windows feature releases. This change enabled more frequent feature improvements and security patches. The transition also introduced broader extension support, allowing users to install extensions from the Chrome Web Store in addition to Microsoft’s own extension catalog. Microsoft indicated that the Chromium-based Edge would later expand to additional platforms, including Linux. The December 2018 announcement began the development process that eventually led to the public release of the new Microsoft Edge in January 2020.