Intel and AMD partnership takes on Nvidia's AI chip dominance
Intel is making another bid to take on chip manufacturer Nvidia by partnering with AMD to produce a new laptop chip. According to the Wall Street Journal, the "thin and lightweight but powerful" chip will be good enough for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, a sector where Nvidia has dominated. In September, Intel unveiled its neuromorphic chip, which has a possible launch date of next year, and over the past two years acquired Movidius, Nervana and Mobileye to expand its AI capabilities. Nvidia's sales in 2017 have tripled to $1bn.

Nvidia is the biggest name in graphic processing units, the fast, powerful computer chips originally created for video games that are increasingly behind many artificial-intelligence projects. Other chipmakers are scrambling to catch up, going so far as to partner with companies that had been their fierce rivals.

The Wall Street Journal (paywall) reported Monday that Intel and AMD are working together on a new laptop chip meant to challenge Nvidia’s dominance. The chip will use an Intel processor and an AMD graphics unit and is designed to be “thin and lightweight but powerful enough to run high-end video games.” And if it’s good enough for video games, it’s likely to be good enough for many AI applications.

This is not Intel’s first effort to take on Nvidia. Intel bought Nervana, Movidius, and Mobileye in the last two years to expand its artificial-intelligence expertise. In September, the company revealed a neuromorphic chip, a new type of chip technology that is based on the human brain. It’s largely untested, but Intel is hoping to validate the neuromorphic approach by working with universities and research institutions on a product that could launch sometime next year. In October, it unveiled the Nervana Neural Network Processor family, a set of chips meant for data centers. Nvidia is still a small provider for data centers compared with Intel—but it has been creeping up, with sales tripling in 2017 to $1 billion.

Companies that aren’t traditionally chip manufacturers are also getting into the game. Google has Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), IBM is working on a chip. and Apple rolled one out recently, too. Much as Intel made a fortune becoming the dominant chipmaker for computers in the 20th century, the prize of being the chief hardware provider for the artificial-intelligence revolution is the kind of thing corporate legacies are made of—oh, and there’s a ton of money to be made, too.