In September 2025, AMD, Intel, Qualcomm and Apple will face new competition: Nvidia apparently wants to introduce its first ARM processor for Windows-on-ARM devices.
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This is what he reports Taiwanese news service DigiTimes (via Tom’s HardwareTo our knowledge, this mainly affects high-end processors for notebooks: Nvidia designs its own systems-on-chip (SoCs) with ARM cores and GeForce graphics units.
For the mainstream, Nvidia is teaming up with MediaTek – the largest processor maker for Android smartphones and smart TVs. MediaTek designs the CPU part and Nvidia contributes a GPU, both of which run on a common carrier. The big advantage for MediaTek: Nvidia has sophisticated graphics drivers, which means the company avoids the same dilemma as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors.
More powerful GPUs in notebook processors
In general, the trend is toward more powerful integrated GPUs in notebook processors. Intel boss Pat Gelsinger said at the analyst conference on the latest business data that he wants to reduce product variety. He sees a trend toward powerful integrated GPUs that make standalone graphics chips unnecessary at the lower end of the performance spectrum. According to rumors, Intel is launching a Panther Lake variant with a particularly large GPU, which could arrive in the form of the Core Ultra 300 as early as 2026. “Normal” panther lakes are already visible.
One thing is already clear: Intel does not use special memory configurations. Gelsinger introduced LPDDR5X components directly onto Lunar Lake carriers (Core Ultra 200V) as a unique solution, originally Lunar Lake was intended to be a niche product that accepted the low margin of purchasing additional memory for better battery performance Was. Due to the AI boom, Intel then increased Lunar Lake, which unplanned significantly increased margins.
For upcoming notebook processors, there will most likely be modules or memory components soldered to the mainboard with DDR5/DDR6 or LPDDR5X/LPDDR6 technology. High-bandwidth memory (HBM) is probably too expensive for the market.
AMD is already planning Strix Halo for early 2025, supposedly with 16 Zen 5 cores and 2560 shader cores – 2.5 times more than the previous Ryzen AI 300. These models are reportedly coming in the form of Ryzen AI Max 300. In parallel AMD is working on its own ARM processors, about which no details are known yet.
(MMA)
