If the reports that Nvidia is interested in partnering with Intel's foundry business "potentially for gaming appplications" is actually genuine, then this indeed good news for struggling chip giant.
Over the past year we've seen the company's struggles lead to the retirement of CEO Pat Gelsinger, who's now spearheading the Christian faith tech company Gloo. Now with new CEO Lip-Bu Tan at the helm, it's thought Intel will be going all-in on chip fabrication, and it looks like Nvidia might be close to signing as a foundry partner.
GuruFocus shares details from a letter to investors delivered by Timothy Arcuri, a stock analyst at UBS. It talks about the push to "finalize commitments from Nvidia or Broadcom" regarding partnering with Intel in its foundry services as well as further improving the 18A chip production process.
The note states that a lower-power 18AP node is currently in development, and it might be that which is drawing the attention of Nvidia "although power consumption remains a concern" reads the report.
Intel's new 18A node was announced as available just last month on the official website, though this was talking about manufacturing rather than ready to buy. It's reported that alongside Nvidia and Broadcom, AMD is also interested. Still, the new tech is set to be much more affordable, making Intel a bit tastier for prospective partners and investors.
What's interesting here is Arcuri's claims that Nvidia is looking closer than Broadcom to adopting the new tech and working with Intel "potentially for gaming applications", which suggests this isn't just an initial conversation. The exciting news is that, despite the potential power concerns, this means the new tech may very well be put to use in consumer graphics cards.
The obvious caveat here is this is just a report on a note to investors from an analyst, not anything like 100% confirmation that any deal between Nvidia and Intel is anywhere near completion.
The 18A node is part of Intel's efforts to release five chips in five years, though by our count they're closer to four, and that's if you consider all these chips truly new rather than rehashes. Still it looks like Intel is doing everything it can to bring itself back up in line with manufacturing giant, TSMC, in terms of fabrication. This includes improving packing processes and continuing to work with United Microelectronics on high voltage developments.
As Arcuri finishes in the letter, we should expect to know more in a few weeks. Intel is set to have the Intel Foundry Direct Connect event on the April 29, where we'll be sure to see more updates about its current trajectory, hopefully much more on 18A nodes, and whatever else Intel thinks may help raise its stock prices further.
