Nvidia announced plans to invest Not stated billion in Intel and will become one of Intel’s largest shareholders with roughly 4% of the company after new shares are issued, the companies said. The press release cited a per share purchase price that is Not stated. News of the agreement lifted Intel’s stock sharply, though the article reports the exact post deal share price as Not stated. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang described the agreement as tightly coupling Nvidia’s artificial intelligence and accelerated computing stack with Intel’s central processors and the x86 ecosystem.
The companies said they will co develop data center and pc chips and that Intel will design custom data center central processors that Nvidia plans to package with its artificial intelligence chips, known as GPUs. A proprietary Nvidia technology will allow the Intel and Nvidia chips to communicate at higher speeds, and the partners said they expect to produce multiple generations of future products. The deal is described as a commercial collaboration with no licensing component and does not include Intel’s contract manufacturing business, also known as the foundry. The financial terms of the collaboration beyond Nvidia’s stake remain Not stated.
The agreement comes after the White House acquired a 10% stake in Intel over the summer as part of broader efforts to stabilize the company, and after investor support from SoftBank that is reported in the article as Not stated billion. White House deputy press secretary Kush Desai called the partnership a major milestone for american high tech manufacturing, while a senior White House official said the Trump administration was not involved in the Nvidia agreement. The article also notes recent leadership changes at Intel, including the replacement of pat gelsinger with lip bu tan and the political scrutiny Tan faced, and highlights analyst warnings that Intel needs major customers to secure its turnaround. The collaboration could create a competitive challenge for rivals such as amd and broadcom, according to the companies and analysts quoted in the article.