Intel and NVIDIA announce partnership that will see “jointly developed x86 Intel CPUs fused with RTX GPUs” in shocking move

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In a surprise move, long-time rivals Intel and NVIDIA have announced a joint partnership that will see both companies build new x86 products that fuse Intel CPUs with NVIDIA GPUs dubbed “Intel x86 RTX SOCs.”

NVIDIA and Intel are collaborating on future chip development, with plans for several new generations of chips. As part of this partnership, NVIDIA will purchase $5 billion worth of Intel stock at $23.28 per share, supporting Intel’s efforts to become a major chip manufacturer and compete with companies like TSMC. While the partnership is new, both companies are looking ahead to long-term collaboration.

Intel’s upcoming x86 RTX processors will combine an Intel x86 CPU with NVIDIA’s RTX GPUs using a fast connection called NVLink. This puts both the CPU and GPU on a single chip, much like how AMD’s APUs work, creating a more compact and efficient design.

Intel has collaborated on combining CPUs and GPUs before. Back in 2017, they worked with AMD on Kaby Lake-G chips, which integrated an AMD Radeon GPU. However, this new collaboration will improve performance by allowing the CPU and GPU to share the same memory.

These new chips should be especially appealing to demanding users and gamers who want compact PCs or laptops for tasks like creative work or gaming. AMD has become a major player in handheld and laptop gaming recently, and Intel’s new partnership with AMD appears to be a move to compete with AMD’s successful processors, which have made mobile gaming a reality.

Besides making chips for consumers, NVIDIA announced that Intel will also manufacture specialized x86 processors for NVIDIA’s data centers. This will help NVIDIA expand its artificial intelligence and business solutions. NVIDIA confirmed this collaboration won’t affect their ongoing development of chips based on Arm technology.

Intel hasn’t officially responded to the news, but NVIDIA states that it will likely take a while before the first Intel x86 RTX processors are available for purchase. Considering how long it typically takes to develop both CPUs and GPUs, it’s probably safe to say we won’t see a finished product for at least another year.

NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang and Intel’s Lip-Bu Tan will likely share more details about their collaboration in a press conference later today.

via Tom’s Hardware

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2025-09-18 15:10