Nvidia on Thursday invested US5-billion in Intel for a stake of roughly 4, and the two firms agreed to a deal to supply chips to one another to create multiple generations of joint products. Those products will connect Intels central processors and Nvidias artificial intelligence and graphics chips with a speedy and proprietary Nvidia connection technology called NVLink .
This could give Intel a leg up against rivals such as AMD because its chips will be attached to Nvidias flagship products in a way that no other third-party chips currently are, analysts said. The joint products in early stages of development and likely to be made on future manufacturing lines could also provide an indirect boost to Intels 14A manufacturing process slated for 2027. Analysts have said this process is critical to its success, and Intel itself has warned it may not be able to pursue 14A if the company fails to get enough customer commitments to justify the expense of building it.
Any relationship with Nvidia at this point, while not explicitly talking about the foundry services, should be seen as a possible extension of the partnership in the future, Jack Gold, principal analyst with J Gold Associates, said in a note, referring to Intels manufacturing arm.