Nvidia has been synonymous with dedicated GPUs — carving its own dominant presence in the PC gaming space. But according to Reuters, the company is planning to roll tanks onto Intel’s turf and start making Arm-based CPUs.
Alongside AMD, Nvidia could have PC chips ready as soon as 2025, and regardless of some failed experiments in the Arm-based space in the past (looking at you, Microsoft Surface RT), Intel must be starting to sweat at the ticking clock situation it finds itself in.
Up until now, Microsoft has had an exclusive love-in with Qualcomm when it comes to Arm-based Windows machines. But just before the chip company’s next big Snapdragon launch, which also includes a new PC CPU to rival M2's power, Nvidia and AMD has announced its intention to diversify the options of chipsets available for personal computing.
This would be Nvidia’s big return to the batting plate after the failed Surface RT packed a Tegra processor. Since that upset, the company kept away from making a single Arm-based chip for a Windows device, but in just over a year, that is all about to change.
The key target for the entire Windows CPU market is clearly the performance and power efficiency of Apple’s silicon. In fact, the rumors look like Qualcomm is set to reveal a flagship chip for PCs that has been designed by a team of ex-Apple engineers.
One thing is clear: this chip war is beginning to heat up, so Nvidia and AMD really need to bring their A-game if they want to stand a chance against Apple’s M3 and whatever Qualcomm starts to drop in this space. But one company remains worryingly absent from this competition…
Time for Intel to respond
Let’s be real here. Nvidia and AMD may have their sights set on trying to compete with Apple Silicon with its Arm-based chips, but the real target here is Intel. The latter company has been struggling to keep up with the Cupertino crew when it comes to the performance and battery life of the M1 and M2 chips.
Intel is taking another crack at it with the Meteor Lake Core Ultra CPUs, which looks set to get a thorough redesign that packs better performance and power efficiency, while introducing AI smarts with a built-in VPU.
But the countdown has now begun for the team to close the gap to Apple before AMD and Nvidia wade in, and that’s not without mentioning the fact that Qualcomm is far closer on the horizon with an announcement due imminently. If Intel doesn’t move fast enough over the next 18 months, it could soon become irrelevant.
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