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Nvidia's stake in Intel could have terrible consequences. First, it is in Nvidia's interest to kill Intel's Arc graphics, and that would be very bad because it

Nvidia's stake in Intel could have terrible consequences. First, it is in Nvidia's interest to kill Intel's Arc graphics, and that would be very bad because it is the only thing brighing GPU prices down for consumers. Second, the death of Intel graphics / Arc would be extremely bad for Linux, because Intel's approach to GPU drivers is the best for compatibility, wheras Nvidia is actively hostile to drivers on Linux. Third, Intel is the only company marketing consumer-grade graphics virtualization (SR-IOV), and the loss of that would make Nvidia's enterprise chips the only game in town, meaning the average consumer gets less performance, less flexibility, and less security on their computers.

matheusmoreira 1y ago
I agree. As a Linux user who favors Intel hardware due to their Linux support, I gotta say the future looks bleak.
- tliltocatl 1y ago
  Well, AMD isn't going away yet, and they do seem to have finally released the advantage of open-source drivers. But that's still bad very for competition and prices.
- throwaway2037 1y ago
  > As a Linux user who favors Intel hardware due to their Linux support I'm confused here. Are you talking about Intel CPUs or GPUs? And does AMD not have excellent Linux support for their own CPUs and GPUs?
  - matheusmoreira 1y ago
    > Intel CPUs or GPUs Both. Also things like sound cards, network cards, peripherals in general. My happiness and stability while using Linux has been well correlated with the number of devices with Intel in the name. Every single device without Intel invariably becomes a major pain in my ass every single time. It's gotten to the point I assume it will just work if it's Intel. > And does AMD not have excellent Linux support for their own CPUs and GPUs? They're making a lot of progress but Intel is still years ahead of them. Earlier this year I was researching PC parts for a build and discovered AMD was still working on merging functionality like on die temperature sensors into the kernel. It makes me think I won't have a full feature set on Linux if I buy one of their processors.
bee_rider 1y ago
Apparently it is 5% ownership. Does that give them enough leverage to tank Intel’s iGPUs? That would seem weird to be. Intel’s iGPUs are an incredibly good solution for their (non-glamorous) niche. Intel’s dGPUs might be in a risky spot, though. (So… what’s new?) Messing up Intel’s iGPUs would be a huge practical loss for, like, everyday desktop Linux folks. Tossing out their dGPUs, I don’t know if it is such a huge loss.
- freedomben 1y ago
  I would guess Nvidia doesn't care at all about the iGPUs, so I agree they are probably not at risk. dGPUs though I absolutely agree They are in a risky spot. Perhaps Intel was planning to kill their more ambitious GPU goals anyway, but That seems extremely unhealthy for pretty much everyone except Nvidia
- sodality2 1y ago
  > Tossing out their dGPUs, I don’t know if it is such a huge loss It would be an enormous loss to the consumer/enthusiast GPU buyer, as a third major competitor is improving the market from what feels like years and years of dreadful price/perf ratio.
  - cluckindan 1y ago
    You don’t say… on the very same day AMD launched a new RDNA3 card (RX 7700). Literally a previous gen card.
    - sim7c00 1y ago
      amd is slow and steady. they were behind many times and many times they surprrised with amazing innovations overtaking intel. they will do it again, for both CPU and GPU.
  - behringer 1y ago
    They were one release away from completely upending the market. A sad day this is.
freedomben 1y ago
You absolutely nailed it IMHO. I wish I had more upvotes to give. I guess time will tell, but this seems like a clear conflict of interest.
lacy_tinpot 1y ago
Not necessarily true. This might be a Microsoft funding a bankrupt Apple kind of moment. American competition isn't a zero sum, and it's in Nvidias' best interest to keep the market healthy.
- rapind 1y ago
  > American competition isn't a zero sum, and it's in Nvidias' best interest to keep the market healthy. Looking at Google's recent antitrust settlement, I'm not sure this is true at present.
  - tonyhart7 1y ago
    Google literally "won" antitrust case ??? the fact that google pay firefox anually meaning that its in best interest of google that there is no monopoly, judge says
  - lacy_tinpot 1y ago
    Nvidia's options are fund your competition to keep the market dynamic, or let the government do it by breaking you a part. So yes. That's how American competition works. It isn't a zero sum game. We try to create a market environment that is competitive and dynamic. Monopolies are threat to both the company and a free open dynamic market. If Nvidia feels it could face an antitrust suit, which is reasonable, it is in its best interest to fund the future of Intel. That's American capitalism.
    - NooneAtAll3 1y ago
      > or let the government do it by breaking you a part. Looking at Google's recent antitrust settlement, I'm not sure this is true at present.
      - lacy_tinpot 1y ago
        Because the recent settlement determined, in my opinion correctly, that the market is still dynamic and competitive. Google search is genuinely being threatened. Google is not a monopoly, not entirely. If AI usage also starts accruing to Google then there should be a new antitrust suit.
mensetmanusman 1y ago
Microsoft’s investment in Apple was helpful for the world.
- xp84 1y ago
  As an Apple user (and even an Apple investor), I'd rather that Apple went out of business back then. If we could re-roll the invention of the (mainstream) smartphone, maybe we'd get something other than two monopolistic companies controlling everything. For instance, maybe if there were 4 strong vendors making the devices with diverse operating systems, native apps wouldn't have ever become important, and the Web platform would have gotten better sooner to fill that gap. Or maybe it'd have ended up the same or worse. But I just don't think Apple being this dominant has been good for the world.
  - tracker1 1y ago
    Or... we could still be using blackberry-like devices without much in the way of active/touch interface development at all. Or worse, the Windows CE or Palm with the pen things.
    - rhetocj23 1y ago
      Lol exactly. That poster should quickly realise hes got it pretty good given the alternatives.
      - xp84 1y ago
        Why? Was Steve Jobs literally the only human who was capable of seeing the massive unserved demand that existed back then? Sidekick was amazing for its time, but only on one also-ran carrier. BlackBerry had great features like BBM (essentially iMessage) but underpowered for multimedia and more difficult to learn. If Apple was out of business, one or more companies would have made the billions on MP3 players that iPod made, and any of them could have branched into phones and made a splash the same way. Perhaps Sony, perhaps Microsoft. Microsoft eventually figured it out -- the only reason they failed was that they waited for both Apple and Android to become entrenched so in this timeline they could have been the second-mover, but unlike with Apple and Android, maybe neither MS nor Google would have automatically owned the US marketshare the way Apple does[1]. If that were the case, we may have competition, instead of the unhealthy thing we have where Apple just does whatever they want. [1] https://gs.statcounter.com/vendor-market-share/mobile/united-states-of-america/#monthly-201003-202508 https://gs.statcounter.com/vendor-market-share/mobile/united...
random3 1y ago
If only antitrust laws would exist
- dsr_ 1y ago
  and be enforced
- _e8at 1y ago
  Or if monopoly laws like copyright didn't
itsthecourier 1y ago
a usable top gaming Intel GPU at good price is a myth :,(
tonyhart7 1y ago
nah, nvidia wouldnt do that it would invite an DOJ case
- bootsmann 1y ago
  Thats something Jensen Huang can do away with by bringing a golden gpu statue to the white house.
- jandrese 1y ago
  Assuming the DoJ is functional and paying attention.
fnord123 1y ago
> Nvidia is actively hostile to drivers on Linux Nvidia is contributing to Nova, the new Nvidia driver for GSP based hardware. https://rust-for-linux.com/nova-gpu-driver https://rust-for-linux.com/nova-gpu-driver Alexandre Courbot, an Nvidia dev, is comaintainer. https://www.phoronix.com/news/NOVA-Core-Co-Maintainer https://www.phoronix.com/news/NOVA-Core-Co-Maintainer
- OccamsMirror 1y ago
  Yeah I think Nvidia were hostile to Linux when they saw no value in it. Now it's where the machine learning is. It's the OS powering the whole AI hype train. Then there is also Steamdeck making Linux gaming not a complete write off anymore. The days of Nvidia ignoring Linux is over.
  - spoaceman7777 1y ago
    For real. Nvidia is even selling desktop Linux computers now, with the launch of the DGX Spark. The "F you Nvidia" Linus Torvalds moment in 2012 is a meme that will not die.
sim7c00 1y ago
why would they wanna kill intel? amd has better cpus and also goes gpu better than intel :?? (*yes i may be missing things,. pls do tell!)
jm4 1y ago
This seems more like the deal where Microsoft invested in Apple. It’s basically charity and they will flip it in a few years when Intel gets back on their feet.
citizenpaul 1y ago
Something about this reminds me of other industry gobbling purchases. None of them ever turned out better for the product, price or general well being of society.
agentcoops 1y ago
The article hints at it, but my guess would be this investment is intended towards Intel foundry and getting it to a place where NVIDIA can eventually rely on them over TSMC — and the ownership largely to give them upside if/when Intel stock goes up on news of an NVIDIA contract etc. It isn’t that uncommon of an arrangement for enterprise deals of such a potential magnitude. Long-term, however, and without NVIDIA making the call that could definitely have the effect of leading to Intel divesting from directly competing in as many markets, ie Arc. For context, I highly recommend the old Stratechery articles on the history of Intel foundry.
- janc_ 1y ago
  My first thought was also that this relates to Intel's foundry business. Even if only to be able to use it in price negotiations with TSMC (it's hard to threaten to go elsewhere when there is no elsewhere left).
- ldng 1y ago
  Which is relatively funny since the new CEO has made it clear he wants to divest on the foundry side ...
6r17 1y ago
Reading this after that memo about China's attitude to Nvidia is actually chilling - they just don't care do they ?
cyanydeez 1y ago
No no, its in NVIDIA interest to ensure it's just good enough for the plebs, so they can continue to gouge the high rate market.
ho_schi 1y ago
Conclusion: Buy AMD. Excellent Linux support with in-tree drivers. For 15 years! A bug is something which will be fixed. Nvidias GPUs are theoretically fast on initial benchmarks. But that’s mostly optimization by others for Nvidia? That’s it. Everything Nvidia has done is a pain. Closed-source drivers (old pain), out of tree-drivers (new pain), ignoring (or actively harming) Wayland (everyone handles implicit sync well, except Nvidia which required explicit sync[1]), and awkward driver bugs declared as “it is not a bug, it is a feature”. The infamous bug: This extension provides a way for applications to discover when video memory content has been lost, so that the application can re-populate the video memory content as necessary. https://registry.khronos.org/OpenGL/extensions/NV/NV_robustness_video_memory_purge.txt https://registry.khronos.org/OpenGL/extensions/NV/NV_robustn... This extension will be soon ten years old. At least they intend to fix it? They just didn’t in the past 9 years! Basically, video memory could be gone after Suspend/Resume, VT-Switch and so on. The good news is, after years someone figured that out and implemented a workaround. For X11 with GNOME: https://www.phoronix.com/news/NVIDIA-Ubuntu-2025-SnR https://www.phoronix.com/news/NVIDIA-Ubuntu-2025-SnR I hope in the meantime somebody implemented a patch for Wayland. What we need? Reliability. And Linux support. That’s why I purchase AMD. And previously Intel. [1] I don’t judge whether implicit sync or explicit are better.
- ekianjo 1y ago
  Excellent Linux support. Except for ROCm which is a big mess.
- codedokode 1y ago
  > Basically, video memory could be gone after Suspend/Resume, VT-Switch and so on. This actually makes sense: for example, a new task has swapped out previous task's data, or host and guest are sharing the GPU and pushing each others data away. I don't understand why this is not a part of GPU-related standards. As for solution, discarding all the GPU data after resume won't help? Or keeping the data in the system RAM.
- est31 1y ago
  > Excellent Linux support with in-tree drivers. For 15 years! Linux support has been excellent on AMD for less than 15 years though. It got really good around 10 years ago, not before.
upboundspiral 1y ago
This seems like it could be a long term existential threat for AMD. AMD CPU + GPU combos are finally coming out strong, both with MI300+ series in the supercomputing space, Strix Halo in laptops, etc. They have the advantage of being able to run code already optimized for x86 (important for gamers and HPC code), which NVIDIA doesn't have. Imagine if Grace Blackwell had x86 chips instead of Arm. If NVIDIA can get Intel CPUs with its chip offerings, it could be poised to completely take over so many new portions of the market/consolidate its current position by using its already existing mindshare and market dominance.
- hakfoo 1y ago
  x86 is important for gamers, but is it for HPC? That tends to be far less dependent on binary blobs.
  - high_na_euv 1y ago
    Jensen was talking about it during webcast, so apparently yes
arkmm 1y ago
This misses the forest from the trees IMO: - The datacenter GPU market is 10x larger than the consumer GPU market for Nvidia (and it's still growing). Winning an extra few percentage points in consumer is not a priority anymore. - Nvidia doesn't have a CPU offering for the datacenter market and they were blocked from acquiring ARM. It's in their interest to have a friend on the CPU side. - Nvidia is fabless and has concentrated supplier and geopolitical risk with TSMC. Intel is one of the only other leading fabs onshoring, which significantly improves Nvidia's supplier negotiation position and hedges geopolitical risk.
- behringer 1y ago
  Intel just released a halfway decent workstation (eg data center) card and we were expecting an even better set of cards by Xmas before this happened.
- throwaway2037 1y ago
  > Nvidia is fabless and has concentrated supplier and geopolitical risk with TSMC. Intel is one of the only other leading fabs onshor[e] TSMC is building state of the art fabs in Arizona, USA. Samsung in Texas, USA. I assume these are being done to reduce geopolitical risk on all sides. Something that I never read about: Why can't NVidia use Samsung fabs? They are very close to TSMC state of the art.
  - mrheosuper 1y ago
    Maybe after being bitten by Samsung on their RTX3000 GPU. Power Spike and a lot of heat.
  - re-thc 1y ago
    > They are very close to TSMC state of the art. They're not. Most have tried at 1 point. Apple had a release with TSMC + Samsung and users spotted a difference. There was quite a bit of negativity.
  - high_na_euv 1y ago
    TSMC will not have state of the art on US soil. Taiwanese gov prevents them from doing it. Leading node has to be on Taiwanese soil
bitexploder 1y ago
Markets seem to be at least reasonably competitive with 3 vendors. 2 vendors in a space often leads to less desirable outcomes for consumers.
classicmotto 1y ago
At this point Nvidia is just shooting themselves in the foot with hostility towards Linux - they are actively using Linux systems for DGX systems and the dependency on Linux is only going to grow internally.
bentt 1y ago
I dont agree here. Nvidia could simply segment the market and keep intel on the low end of gpus. I think AMD is the real target/victim here.
TiredOfLife 1y ago
> wheras Nvidia is actively hostile to drivers on Linux Is that's why to use Cuda in Windows you have to use WSL2 (virtualized linux)
mihaaly 1y ago
Now the whole purchase makes sense! : / Using fortunes falling in the lap to kill competition is a common practice of economics (vs. technology) oriented organizations. That brings benefits only for the organization, for others it brings damages and disappointments.
dchftcs 1y ago
Yeah, Nvidia has trillions at stake, Intel a mere 100B. It's more in the interests of Nvidia to interfere with Intel's GPU business than to help it, and the only things they want from Intel are the fabs.
ksec 1y ago
Do we want Intel to fall and bankrupt? Or do we want Intel to survive. I dont think most people are clear what is happening here. This is it. The Margin call moment. Intel could either transform into Fabless company compete on design, and manufacture with TSMC. Or they continue to be a Foundry player, crucial to US strategic interest. You can only pick one, and competing on just one of them is already a monumental task. GPU is burning money. With no short term success in sight that could make them cash flow positive in 3 - 4 years time frame. I have been stating this since 2016 and we are now coming close to 2026, recent market share suggest Intel is at less than 1% discrete market share. Especially given the strong roadmap Nvidia has. This gives a perfect excuse for Intel to quit GPU. Nvidia to provide the cash flow to hopefully continue to develop A18 and A14. Manufacture Nvidia GPU for them, and slowly transition itself out to only x86 + Foundry model. Or even solely manufacture for Nvidia. US administration further force Apple, Qualcomm and Broadcom to use Intel in some capacity. Assuming Intel can keep up with TSMC, which is probably a comparatively easier task than to tackle the GPU market. I am assuming the Intel board is happy with that direction though. Because so far they have shown they are completely lack of any strategic vision.

matheusmoreira 1y ago

I agree. As a Linux user who favors Intel hardware due to their Linux support, I gotta say the future looks bleak.

tliltocatl 1y ago
Well, AMD isn't going away yet, and they do seem to have finally released the advantage of open-source drivers. But that's still bad very for competition and prices.
throwaway2037 1y ago
> As a Linux user who favors Intel hardware due to their Linux support I'm confused here. Are you talking about Intel CPUs or GPUs? And does AMD not have excellent Linux support for their own CPUs and GPUs?
- matheusmoreira 1y ago
  > Intel CPUs or GPUs Both. Also things like sound cards, network cards, peripherals in general. My happiness and stability while using Linux has been well correlated with the number of devices with Intel in the name. Every single device without Intel invariably becomes a major pain in my ass every single time. It's gotten to the point I assume it will just work if it's Intel. > And does AMD not have excellent Linux support for their own CPUs and GPUs? They're making a lot of progress but Intel is still years ahead of them. Earlier this year I was researching PC parts for a build and discovered AMD was still working on merging functionality like on die temperature sensors into the kernel. It makes me think I won't have a full feature set on Linux if I buy one of their processors.

bee_rider 1y ago

Apparently it is 5% ownership. Does that give them enough leverage to tank Intel’s iGPUs? That would seem weird to be. Intel’s iGPUs are an incredibly good solution for their (non-glamorous) niche. Intel’s dGPUs might be in a risky spot, though. (So… what’s new?) Messing up Intel’s iGPUs would be a huge practical loss for, like, everyday desktop Linux folks. Tossing out their dGPUs, I don’t know if it is such a huge loss.

freedomben 1y ago
I would guess Nvidia doesn't care at all about the iGPUs, so I agree they are probably not at risk. dGPUs though I absolutely agree They are in a risky spot. Perhaps Intel was planning to kill their more ambitious GPU goals anyway, but That seems extremely unhealthy for pretty much everyone except Nvidia
sodality2 1y ago
> Tossing out their dGPUs, I don’t know if it is such a huge loss It would be an enormous loss to the consumer/enthusiast GPU buyer, as a third major competitor is improving the market from what feels like years and years of dreadful price/perf ratio.
- cluckindan 1y ago
  You don’t say… on the very same day AMD launched a new RDNA3 card (RX 7700). Literally a previous gen card.
  - sim7c00 1y ago
    amd is slow and steady. they were behind many times and many times they surprrised with amazing innovations overtaking intel. they will do it again, for both CPU and GPU.
- behringer 1y ago
  They were one release away from completely upending the market. A sad day this is.

freedomben 1y ago

You absolutely nailed it IMHO. I wish I had more upvotes to give. I guess time will tell, but this seems like a clear conflict of interest.

lacy_tinpot 1y ago

Not necessarily true. This might be a Microsoft funding a bankrupt Apple kind of moment. American competition isn't a zero sum, and it's in Nvidias' best interest to keep the market healthy.

rapind 1y ago
> American competition isn't a zero sum, and it's in Nvidias' best interest to keep the market healthy. Looking at Google's recent antitrust settlement, I'm not sure this is true at present.
- tonyhart7 1y ago
  Google literally "won" antitrust case ??? the fact that google pay firefox anually meaning that its in best interest of google that there is no monopoly, judge says
- lacy_tinpot 1y ago
  Nvidia's options are fund your competition to keep the market dynamic, or let the government do it by breaking you a part. So yes. That's how American competition works. It isn't a zero sum game. We try to create a market environment that is competitive and dynamic. Monopolies are threat to both the company and a free open dynamic market. If Nvidia feels it could face an antitrust suit, which is reasonable, it is in its best interest to fund the future of Intel. That's American capitalism.
  - NooneAtAll3 1y ago
    > or let the government do it by breaking you a part. Looking at Google's recent antitrust settlement, I'm not sure this is true at present.
    - lacy_tinpot 1y ago
      Because the recent settlement determined, in my opinion correctly, that the market is still dynamic and competitive. Google search is genuinely being threatened. Google is not a monopoly, not entirely. If AI usage also starts accruing to Google then there should be a new antitrust suit.

mensetmanusman 1y ago

Microsoft’s investment in Apple was helpful for the world.

xp84 1y ago
As an Apple user (and even an Apple investor), I'd rather that Apple went out of business back then. If we could re-roll the invention of the (mainstream) smartphone, maybe we'd get something other than two monopolistic companies controlling everything. For instance, maybe if there were 4 strong vendors making the devices with diverse operating systems, native apps wouldn't have ever become important, and the Web platform would have gotten better sooner to fill that gap. Or maybe it'd have ended up the same or worse. But I just don't think Apple being this dominant has been good for the world.
- tracker1 1y ago
  Or... we could still be using blackberry-like devices without much in the way of active/touch interface development at all. Or worse, the Windows CE or Palm with the pen things.
  - rhetocj23 1y ago
    Lol exactly. That poster should quickly realise hes got it pretty good given the alternatives.
    - xp84 1y ago
      Why? Was Steve Jobs literally the only human who was capable of seeing the massive unserved demand that existed back then? Sidekick was amazing for its time, but only on one also-ran carrier. BlackBerry had great features like BBM (essentially iMessage) but underpowered for multimedia and more difficult to learn. If Apple was out of business, one or more companies would have made the billions on MP3 players that iPod made, and any of them could have branched into phones and made a splash the same way. Perhaps Sony, perhaps Microsoft. Microsoft eventually figured it out -- the only reason they failed was that they waited for both Apple and Android to become entrenched so in this timeline they could have been the second-mover, but unlike with Apple and Android, maybe neither MS nor Google would have automatically owned the US marketshare the way Apple does[1]. If that were the case, we may have competition, instead of the unhealthy thing we have where Apple just does whatever they want. [1] https://gs.statcounter.com/vendor-market-share/mobile/united-states-of-america/#monthly-201003-202508 https://gs.statcounter.com/vendor-market-share/mobile/united...

random3 1y ago

If only antitrust laws would exist

dsr_ 1y ago
and be enforced
_e8at 1y ago
Or if monopoly laws like copyright didn't

itsthecourier 1y ago

a usable top gaming Intel GPU at good price is a myth :,(

tonyhart7 1y ago

nah, nvidia wouldnt do that it would invite an DOJ case

bootsmann 1y ago
Thats something Jensen Huang can do away with by bringing a golden gpu statue to the white house.
jandrese 1y ago
Assuming the DoJ is functional and paying attention.

fnord123 1y ago

> Nvidia is actively hostile to drivers on Linux Nvidia is contributing to Nova, the new Nvidia driver for GSP based hardware. https://rust-for-linux.com/nova-gpu-driver https://rust-for-linux.com/nova-gpu-driver Alexandre Courbot, an Nvidia dev, is comaintainer. https://www.phoronix.com/news/NOVA-Core-Co-Maintainer https://www.phoronix.com/news/NOVA-Core-Co-Maintainer

OccamsMirror 1y ago
Yeah I think Nvidia were hostile to Linux when they saw no value in it. Now it's where the machine learning is. It's the OS powering the whole AI hype train. Then there is also Steamdeck making Linux gaming not a complete write off anymore. The days of Nvidia ignoring Linux is over.
- spoaceman7777 1y ago
  For real. Nvidia is even selling desktop Linux computers now, with the launch of the DGX Spark. The "F you Nvidia" Linus Torvalds moment in 2012 is a meme that will not die.

sim7c00 1y ago

why would they wanna kill intel? amd has better cpus and also goes gpu better than intel :?? (*yes i may be missing things,. pls do tell!)

jm4 1y ago

This seems more like the deal where Microsoft invested in Apple. It’s basically charity and they will flip it in a few years when Intel gets back on their feet.

citizenpaul 1y ago

Something about this reminds me of other industry gobbling purchases. None of them ever turned out better for the product, price or general well being of society.

agentcoops 1y ago

The article hints at it, but my guess would be this investment is intended towards Intel foundry and getting it to a place where NVIDIA can eventually rely on them over TSMC — and the ownership largely to give them upside if/when Intel stock goes up on news of an NVIDIA contract etc. It isn’t that uncommon of an arrangement for enterprise deals of such a potential magnitude. Long-term, however, and without NVIDIA making the call that could definitely have the effect of leading to Intel divesting from directly competing in as many markets, ie Arc. For context, I highly recommend the old Stratechery articles on the history of Intel foundry.

janc_ 1y ago
My first thought was also that this relates to Intel's foundry business. Even if only to be able to use it in price negotiations with TSMC (it's hard to threaten to go elsewhere when there is no elsewhere left).
ldng 1y ago
Which is relatively funny since the new CEO has made it clear he wants to divest on the foundry side ...

6r17 1y ago

Reading this after that memo about China's attitude to Nvidia is actually chilling - they just don't care do they ?

cyanydeez 1y ago

No no, its in NVIDIA interest to ensure it's just good enough for the plebs, so they can continue to gouge the high rate market.

ho_schi 1y ago

Conclusion: Buy AMD. Excellent Linux support with in-tree drivers. For 15 years! A bug is something which will be fixed. Nvidias GPUs are theoretically fast on initial benchmarks. But that’s mostly optimization by others for Nvidia? That’s it. Everything Nvidia has done is a pain. Closed-source drivers (old pain), out of tree-drivers (new pain), ignoring (or actively harming) Wayland (everyone handles implicit sync well, except Nvidia which required explicit sync[1]), and awkward driver bugs declared as “it is not a bug, it is a feature”. The infamous bug: This extension provides a way for applications to discover when video memory content has been lost, so that the application can re-populate the video memory content as necessary. https://registry.khronos.org/OpenGL/extensions/NV/NV_robustness_video_memory_purge.txt https://registry.khronos.org/OpenGL/extensions/NV/NV_robustn... This extension will be soon ten years old. At least they intend to fix it? They just didn’t in the past 9 years! Basically, video memory could be gone after Suspend/Resume, VT-Switch and so on. The good news is, after years someone figured that out and implemented a workaround. For X11 with GNOME: https://www.phoronix.com/news/NVIDIA-Ubuntu-2025-SnR https://www.phoronix.com/news/NVIDIA-Ubuntu-2025-SnR I hope in the meantime somebody implemented a patch for Wayland. What we need? Reliability. And Linux support. That’s why I purchase AMD. And previously Intel. [1] I don’t judge whether implicit sync or explicit are better.

ekianjo 1y ago
Excellent Linux support. Except for ROCm which is a big mess.
codedokode 1y ago
> Basically, video memory could be gone after Suspend/Resume, VT-Switch and so on. This actually makes sense: for example, a new task has swapped out previous task's data, or host and guest are sharing the GPU and pushing each others data away. I don't understand why this is not a part of GPU-related standards. As for solution, discarding all the GPU data after resume won't help? Or keeping the data in the system RAM.
est31 1y ago
> Excellent Linux support with in-tree drivers. For 15 years! Linux support has been excellent on AMD for less than 15 years though. It got really good around 10 years ago, not before.

upboundspiral 1y ago

This seems like it could be a long term existential threat for AMD. AMD CPU + GPU combos are finally coming out strong, both with MI300+ series in the supercomputing space, Strix Halo in laptops, etc. They have the advantage of being able to run code already optimized for x86 (important for gamers and HPC code), which NVIDIA doesn't have. Imagine if Grace Blackwell had x86 chips instead of Arm. If NVIDIA can get Intel CPUs with its chip offerings, it could be poised to completely take over so many new portions of the market/consolidate its current position by using its already existing mindshare and market dominance.

hakfoo 1y ago
x86 is important for gamers, but is it for HPC? That tends to be far less dependent on binary blobs.
- high_na_euv 1y ago
  Jensen was talking about it during webcast, so apparently yes

arkmm 1y ago

This misses the forest from the trees IMO: - The datacenter GPU market is 10x larger than the consumer GPU market for Nvidia (and it's still growing). Winning an extra few percentage points in consumer is not a priority anymore. - Nvidia doesn't have a CPU offering for the datacenter market and they were blocked from acquiring ARM. It's in their interest to have a friend on the CPU side. - Nvidia is fabless and has concentrated supplier and geopolitical risk with TSMC. Intel is one of the only other leading fabs onshoring, which significantly improves Nvidia's supplier negotiation position and hedges geopolitical risk.

behringer 1y ago
Intel just released a halfway decent workstation (eg data center) card and we were expecting an even better set of cards by Xmas before this happened.
throwaway2037 1y ago
> Nvidia is fabless and has concentrated supplier and geopolitical risk with TSMC. Intel is one of the only other leading fabs onshor[e] TSMC is building state of the art fabs in Arizona, USA. Samsung in Texas, USA. I assume these are being done to reduce geopolitical risk on all sides. Something that I never read about: Why can't NVidia use Samsung fabs? They are very close to TSMC state of the art.
- mrheosuper 1y ago
  Maybe after being bitten by Samsung on their RTX3000 GPU. Power Spike and a lot of heat.
- re-thc 1y ago
  > They are very close to TSMC state of the art. They're not. Most have tried at 1 point. Apple had a release with TSMC + Samsung and users spotted a difference. There was quite a bit of negativity.
- high_na_euv 1y ago
  TSMC will not have state of the art on US soil. Taiwanese gov prevents them from doing it. Leading node has to be on Taiwanese soil

bitexploder 1y ago

Markets seem to be at least reasonably competitive with 3 vendors. 2 vendors in a space often leads to less desirable outcomes for consumers.

classicmotto 1y ago

At this point Nvidia is just shooting themselves in the foot with hostility towards Linux - they are actively using Linux systems for DGX systems and the dependency on Linux is only going to grow internally.

bentt 1y ago

I dont agree here. Nvidia could simply segment the market and keep intel on the low end of gpus. I think AMD is the real target/victim here.

TiredOfLife 1y ago

> wheras Nvidia is actively hostile to drivers on Linux Is that's why to use Cuda in Windows you have to use WSL2 (virtualized linux)

mihaaly 1y ago

Now the whole purchase makes sense! : / Using fortunes falling in the lap to kill competition is a common practice of economics (vs. technology) oriented organizations. That brings benefits only for the organization, for others it brings damages and disappointments.

dchftcs 1y ago

Yeah, Nvidia has trillions at stake, Intel a mere 100B. It's more in the interests of Nvidia to interfere with Intel's GPU business than to help it, and the only things they want from Intel are the fabs.

ksec 1y ago

Do we want Intel to fall and bankrupt? Or do we want Intel to survive. I dont think most people are clear what is happening here. This is it. The Margin call moment. Intel could either transform into Fabless company compete on design, and manufacture with TSMC. Or they continue to be a Foundry player, crucial to US strategic interest. You can only pick one, and competing on just one of them is already a monumental task. GPU is burning money. With no short term success in sight that could make them cash flow positive in 3 - 4 years time frame. I have been stating this since 2016 and we are now coming close to 2026, recent market share suggest Intel is at less than 1% discrete market share. Especially given the strong roadmap Nvidia has. This gives a perfect excuse for Intel to quit GPU. Nvidia to provide the cash flow to hopefully continue to develop A18 and A14. Manufacture Nvidia GPU for them, and slowly transition itself out to only x86 + Foundry model. Or even solely manufacture for Nvidia. US administration further force Apple, Qualcomm and Broadcom to use Intel in some capacity. Assuming Intel can keep up with TSMC, which is probably a comparatively easier task than to tackle the GPU market. I am assuming the Intel board is happy with that direction though. Because so far they have shown they are completely lack of any strategic vision.