Microsoft has changed their mind and will be supporting Intel’s Skylake CPU technology until the end of support for Windows 7 and 8.1. Windows 10 will be required for the newer CPU generations, however. At least for the latest and greatest features and support.
As previously communicated earlier this year, future silicon platforms including Intel’s upcoming 7th Gen Intel Core (Kaby Lake) processor family and AMD’s 7th generation processors (e.g. Bristol Ridge) will only be supported on Windows 10, and all future silicon releases will require the latest release of Windows 10.