Intel: We Do Not Prevent Nvidia from Developing x86 Microprocessor

Intel Corp. does not prohibit Nvidia Corp. to develop x86-compatible microprocessors, but as soon as the latter launches its product, the chip giant will definitely discuss whether such a chip infringes its patents and whether Nvidia has rights to sell it.

“We’re not going to react to anything until there’s a real product. [Nvidia has] a cross-license from us. It has certain exclusions in it. It has a certain period in terms of when it runs, when it’s valid. When and if they have a real product, we’ll have a discussion of whether it violates it or not. That’s a TBD situation,” said Paul Otellini, chief executive officer of Intel Corp., during a meeting with employees.

For a while Nvidia has been claiming that performance and capabilities of central processing units (CPUs) are losing their importance for end-users, whereas the significance of graphics processing units (GPUs) is on the rise. However, Nvidia fully understands that without microprocessors actual devices will not be able to run operating systems and productivity applications and recently the company went on saying that in several years time it may release an system-on-chip (SoC) featuring x86 processing core.