Nvidia to invest $5 bn in Intel to co-develop chips, expand AI platforms

The move comes almost two weeks after US President Donald Trump signed a deal with Intel to acquire a 10 per cent stake in the company to revive the struggling chipmaker

Tech giant Nvidia on Thursday announced it will invest $5 billion in Intel as part of a newly-announced collaboration to co-develop custom data centre and personal computing chips. The investment will be made through the purchase of Intel’s common stock at $23.28 per share, Nvidia said.

 

“AI is powering a new industrial revolution and reinventing every layer of the computing stack — from silicon to systems to software,” Nvidia founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Jensen Huang said. “This historic collaboration tightly couples Nvidia’s AI and accelerated computing stack with Intel’s CPUs and the vast x86 ecosystem — a fusion of two world-class platforms.”

 

US government backing

The move comes almost two weeks after United States (US) President Donald Trump signed a deal with Intel to acquire a 10 per cent stake in a bid to revive the struggling chipmaker and strengthen domestic semiconductor production. Following the investment, Trump said, “I will make deals like that for our Country all day long.”  However, regarding the Nvidia deal, a White House official said that the Trump administration was not involved in it, reported Reuters.

 

Chips for data centres and PCs

Under the latest agreement, Nvidia and Intel will work on integrating Nvidia’s artificial intelligence (AI) and accelerated computing technologies with Intel’s x86 CPU architecture. For data centres, Intel will design custom x86 CPUs for Nvidia, which will then be incorporated into Nvidia’s AI infrastructure platforms. For personal computing, Intel will produce system-on-chips (SoCs) combining its CPUs with Nvidia RTX GPU chiplets, aimed at high-performance consumer systems.

 

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan said the partnership builds on the company’s long-standing role in modern computing. “Intel’s x86 architecture has been foundational to modern computing for decades — and we are innovating across our portfolio to enable the workloads of the future,” he said. “We appreciate the confidence Jensen and the Nvidia team have placed in us with their investment and look forward to the work ahead as we innovate for customers and grow our business.”

 

Market reaction

Intel shares jumped 30 per cent in premarket action, Reuters reported Thursday.

 

A market analyst told the news agency that the move shows Nvidia’s attempt to broaden its investments in the US while also seeking favour with the government. “It doesn’t change the bigger problem, which Nvidia is facing with China, but it keeps it in favour with the US government,” the analyst was quoted as saying.