I think that's 100% what this is, and it's a very smart play if that's the case. Intel are reeling from some significant setbacks, while Nvidia is swimming in cash. There's never been a better time for them to make a play for the desktop CPU space.

And they've got absolutely no illusions about what's happening with AI. They're the ones who are literally paying AI companies to buy their chips. They know the space is collapsing. But as the guys selling the picks and shovels, they can ride out that collapse if they're smart.

End of the day, if what we get out of this is a new, serious competitor in the CPU space, that'll at least be some kind of win. With Nvidia's money and expertise they could really force Intel to get their shit together. AMD chasing their heels is the only that's ever kept them from completely going to shit, but more competition is even better. With all three major companies playing in both the CPU and GPU spaces, that could be really good for consumers.

Both that and vertical integration. They can capture even more of the market by creating all in one Nvidia-only machines that you have to buy the whole rig to use their accelerators

Yeah, that was my question. Why the hell would they develop new silicon when 99% of their fab space is dedicated to feeding the AI bubble?

Nvidia wants to be the equal to Intel and AMD. They want to be the 3rd major hardware house.

In ~2009, Intel didn’t renew a contract which allowed Nvidia to produce chipsets for Intel processors, and since then Nvidia has wanted a CPU of their own to keep from getting locked out again.

Nvidia tried to buy Arm when SoftBank was trying to sell, but that got scuttled. They had Tegra in the past which was a phone processor and successful in the Nintendo Switch. They can’t buy Intel because of poison pills in the x86 licensing between AMD and Intel which would kick in.

They're doubling down. It's a special CPU for more AI slop.