Intel says blockbuster Nvidia deal does not change its personal roadmap

When you’re questioning what impact Intel’s blockbuster take care of Nvidia can have on its present product roadmaps, Intel has one message for you: it gained’t.

“We’re not discussing particular roadmaps at the moment, however the collaboration is complementary to Intel’s roadmap and Intel will proceed to have GPU product choices,” an Intel spokesman informed my colleague, Brad Chacos, earlier immediately. I heard related messaging from different Intel representatives.

Nvidia’s $5 billion funding in Intel, in addition to Nvidia’s plans to provide RTX graphics chiplets to Intel to be used in Intel’s CPUs, have two main potential results: first, it may rewrite Intel’s cellular roadmap for laptop computer chips, due to the extra capabilities supplied by these RTX chiplets. Second, the transfer threatens Intel’s ongoing growth of its Arc graphics cores, together with standalone discrete GPUs in addition to built-in chips.

We’re nonetheless not satisfied that Arc’s future might be left unscathed, partially as a result of Intel’s declare that it’s going to “proceed” to have GPU product choices sounds a bit wishy-washy. However Intel sounds rather more definitive on the previous level, in that the cellular roadmap that you just’re acquainted with will stay in place.

To date, Intel’s public roadmap requires Intel’s “Panther Lake” processor to debut this fall, in all probability delivery in early 2026. Intel’s been speaking about that chip for months and months, and there’s no cause to imagine these plans will change. Intel has additionally publicly disclosed Nova Lake, the next-next-generation cellular processor for laptops, which can also be due in late 2026 and can in all probability enter laptops in early 2027. In response to a leaked roadmap from a Spanish PC maker, Wildcat Lake is perhaps a 2026 half, too.

What we’ve been informed, nonetheless, implies that any work that comes out of the Nvidia-Intel partnership might be additive. Basically, there might be further merchandise that might be added to the roadmap: premium merchandise, hooked up to markets like shopper, gaming, creator, and enterprise.

To me, that feels like Intel may very well be including a premium model or choice to its established strains. Keep in mind, we don’t know what Panther Lake or Nova Lake might be designed as. We do know, nonetheless, that Meteor Lake, the first-generation Core Extremely chip, was designed with a selected GPU tile. One may think that Intel may ship a processor with a GPU tile that would both be Intel’s personal Arc chip, or a alternative architected by Nvidia. Whether or not that may be doable or not is unknown — that’s simply hypothesis.

Although Intel and Nvidia have been engaged on this partnership for a few yr, based on Nvidia chief govt Jensen Huang, we additionally don’t anticipate to get that a lot details about future merchandise anytime quickly. Although, with a rabid know-how press corps desirous to comply with up on the query monetary reporters didn’t ask in the course of the Nvidia-Intel press convention, who is aware of what is going to emerge?