Two archrivals are coming together to take on a common competitor. It may sound odd, but it’s true. On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Intel and AMD are joining hands to take on Nvidia in the laptop chip market. The partnership has also been confirmed by both of the companies.
A smart move by Intel and AMD
Intel and AMD will collaborate to develop a chip powering the thin and lightweight laptops, which are fit for playing complex video-games. Following the news, AMD shares were up over 5% in the premarket session, while Nvidia’s shares were down. AMD shares are down since last month after it reported its third-quarter financial results, giving a below estimate gross profit margin guidance.
It could be seen as a smart move for both as personal computers are witnessing lackluster sales. However, high-end laptops with the capability of playing heavy games are still popular. And, this is what Intel and AMD are trying to focus on along with chipping away at some of Nvidia’s market. Nvidia lately has emerged as a bigger rival to Intel with an accelerated push in the AI and machine learning business, along with offering quality graphics cards for consumer and enterprise computers.
Two archrivals, Intel and AMD, have come together for the first time since 1980, according to the WSJ. Intel has been a dominant player in the PC chip market, but in the graphics chip market, it has not seen much success. Though Nvidia leads the graphics chip market with products popular among gamers and cryptocurrency miners, AMD is slowly closing in on that gap. Currently, gaming computers need an Intel semiconductor along with a high-end Nvidia or AMD chip.
So, by collaborating with AMD, Intel is aiming to tap the segment that it so far has not been very successful with. Also, the deal with Intel would mean more revenue for AMD as well, notes The WSJ.
No impact on Ryzen mobile chips
The WSJ cited an AMD spokesperson saying the offering will “appeal to serious gamers” and will not compete with Ryzen Mobile chips. The spokesman said that while Intel’s chip is targeting gamers, the chip that AMD will come up with later this year hasn’t been made to specifically support that market. “We’re playing in a complementary market,” the spokesman said.
“Together we are offering gamers and content creators the opportunity to have a thinner-and-lighter PC capable of delivering discrete performance-tier graphics experiences in AAA games and content creation applications,” said Scott Herkelman, vice president and general manager of AMD Radeon Technologies Group, in a press release.
Both AMD and Intel told PCWorld that the product of AMD-Intel will be an “evolution” of Intel’s 8th-generation, H-series Core chips with the capability to preserve battery life. The main objective of this partnership is to bring top-tier gaming to thin-and-light notebook PCs by integrating the Intel Core microprocessor with a custom AMD Radeon graphics core. Both the companies confirmed to PCWorld that Intel first approached AMD for a partnership. The chip is scheduled to ship by the first-quarter of 2018.
At 10:41 a.m. Eastern, Intel shares were up 0.80%, while AMD shares were up 5.77%.
