Industrial experts in the AI and server computing field will most likely know about NVIDIA’s MGX series of offerings. Broadly speaking, it is a line of products that allows its GPU to operate with, let’s say, x86-based CPUs such as those from Intel. So this is sort of a Team Green + Team Blue product, so to speak.
But this sort of “collaboration” is going to go deeper than before, as NVIDIA will be investing a total of US$5 billion into Intel in exchange for more than 4% of the latter’s stock.
According to official statements, Intel will be providing x86 SoCs with NVIDIA RTX GPU chiplets, forming a cross-brand APU that aims to get a slice of the pie away from AMD, whose APU solutions have been in the bodies of consoles such as PS5, Xbox Series X/S, as well as gaming PC handhelds, including ROG Ally and Steam Deck.
On the enterprise side, Intel will also build “NVIDIA-custom x86 CPUs” for integration into the GPU pioneer’s AI infrastructure platforms, giving Team Green a deeper foothold in CPU design without breaching the licensing constraints that restrict third parties from directly producing x86 processors.
With this, Intel will be able to get some breathing room in terms of financial stress, while NVIDIA will get to play a stronger role across both AI and PC ecosystems. However, will this lead to the collab products being manufactured by Intel is still unknown, as there’s plenty of reason why nearly all top tier chips are being fabricated by TMSC – High yields, long term trustability of the Taiwanese factory, and perhaps the one and only name right now capable of producing the most advanced silicon brains with the “smallest number of nm”.
As for Team Red, they took a -1.3% to their stocks after the announcement.
Yet, it seems like the broader implication may surface in the form of “anti-monopoly”, as discussed by PC Gamer, where keeping Intel alive means AMD’s not gonna get their say in the CPU market. Meanwhile, Intel has to be independent in order to keep its x86 ISA licensing from AMD.
But in the end, all we can do is wait and see if both companies can cook something that’s actually competitive, with the big US$5B signaling NVIDIA has no intention of leaving Intel to fade quietly, and Intel has no choice but to embrace outside help.
