Leading microprocessor Company Intel is believed to be in discussions with Nvidia, the move comes as Intel struggles to grow revenues following a fall in PC sales and the emergence of new processor technology from Companies like Qualcomm.
Sources in Asia have told ChannelNews that Intel recently held discussions with Nvidia with a view to either buying the Company outright or taking a major shareholding.
Both Intel and Nvidia management in the USA are refusing to comment.
Nvidia has been gaining traction in the High-Performance Computing segment of the market where Intel with their advanced server processes hold 29% market share.
Intel also holds 90% market share of the data centre microprocessor market where Nvidia has been gaining share after they developed a series of products for use as a coprocessor in advanced computing applications.
Coprocessors and the accompanying software are used to offload compute-intensive operations from microprocessors to increase performance. For example, in the most recent Top 500 Supercomputer report, 455 (or 91.0%) use Intel microprocessors, 23 (or 4.6%) use IBM Power microprocessors, and 13 (or 2.6%) use AMD microprocessors. Of the 500, 93 (or 19%) are designed to use accelerator/coprocessor devices, of which 67 (or 72%) use Nvidia coprocessors.
Nvidia is also a leader in artificial intelligence and deep learning and has developed a range of products are founded on this expertise. These include both coprocessors and the Cuda software environment on which they run.
Sources report that Nervana has gained traction against Nvidia with its Cuda-compatible Neon software offering however Intel management believe that the acquisition of Nvidia would deliver new revenue streams for the US Company.
