Nvidia and Intel will also be collaborating to develop custom data centres and personal computer products.
Nvidia is purchasing $5bn worth of its struggling competitor Intel’s stock, just weeks after the US government bought an $8.9bn stake in the chipmaker and SoftBank invested $2bn into the company.
Nvidia is investing into Intel at a stake price of $23.28 a share, read a statement from the company today (18 September). Intel’s share value shot up by nearly 33pc following the announcement.
The announcement came alongside news of a collaboration between the two semiconductor giants, which have agreed to jointly develop multiple generations of custom data centre and personal computer products.
As per the deal, Intel will build Nvidia-custom x86 CPUs that Nvidia will then integrate into its AI infrastructure platforms for sale to consumers. Intel will also build x86 system-on-chips that integrate Nvidia RTX GPU chiplets.
“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. Together, we will expand our ecosystems and lay the foundation for the next era of computing,” said Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang.
Lip-Bu Tan, the CEO of Intel added: “Intel’s x86 architecture has been foundational to modern computing for decades.
“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.”
Legacy chipmaker Intel has struggled in recent years, losing 61pc of its value in 2024, its biggest drop in its 53 years as a public company.
Reports suggested that it bore these losses over its slow pick-up of AI, with its chips lagging behind rivals such as Nvidia and AMD, which quickly gained the market share Intel lost.
However, struggling or not, strong public and private backing behind the company makes it clear that companies such as Intel are simply too big to fail – or let fail.
Intel’s deal with the US government was a surprising, yet swift one. Earlier last month, US president Donald Trump called for Tan’s resignation, after US senator Tom Cotton accused the CEO of having a stake in “hundreds of Chinese advanced-manufacturing and chip firms”, some of which he claimed had “ties to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army”.
Days later, Tan (who took over as Intel CEO in March), met with the president, and the meeting seemed to have gone well.
Trump seemed chuffed about the deal he carved out with Intel, saying, “[Tan] walked in wanting to keep his job and he ended up giving us $10bn for the United States.”
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