On September 19, according to the Associated Press, Nvidia announced a major deal on Thursday, investing US$5 billion in the troubled veteran chip giant Intel. Subsequently, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan held an online press conference to explain the logic behind the transaction.
The photo released by Chen Liwu and Huang Renxun
Negotiations have been going on for a long time
Huang called it "a collaboration that brings together two world-class platforms" on Thursday, combining Intel's strengths in making traditional computer chips, the CPUs that power most laptops, with Nvidia's strengths in specialized graphics chips necessary to focus on AI.
"This collaboration shows that the way computing has fundamentally changed. The era of accelerated computing and AI computing has arrived," he told reporters on Thursday.
Huang Renxun said that Nvidia and Intel have been negotiating this cooperation for about a year.
"We are very happy to invest in Intel. The return on this investment will be very impressive," Huang said. "We will become an important customer of Intel CPUs."
Chen Liwu joined the press conference by phone. He said that since he was appointed as Intel's new CEO in March this year, he has been communicating with Nvidia about cooperation.
"This is a very significant and important milestone. I call it an opportunity for us to work together to change the industry structure." Chen Liwu said.
Although Nvidia will join forces with Intel to develop new chips, the two parties have not reached a manufacturing agreement. Nvidia may use Intel's wafer foundries in the future, which would pose a potential risk to TSMC, which is currently responsible for producing Nvidia's flagship chips.
Huang emphasized on Thursday that Nvidia and Intel remain "very successful customers" of TSMC.
Trump did not intervene
Regarding Nvidia’s investment in Intel, Huang Renxun said that “the Trump administration is not involved in this cooperation at all”, but added that “of course, they should also very much support this cooperation.”
Currently, Huang Jen-Hsun is following Trump on his visit to the UK. He and other Silicon Valley giants have attended many events related to the US President.
At a transatlantic technology cooperation signing ceremony with British Prime Minister Starmer on Thursday, Trump lamented that AI "is taking over the world."
"Jason (Huang Jen-Hsun), I'm talking about you, you are taking over the world." Trump said.
Huang and Trump also attended a royal banquet together. This grand event at Windsor Castle became the topic of greetings between Huang and Chen Liwu before the press conference.
Huang Renxun said to Chen Liwu: "The brandy is very good, but the amount is not enough. I guess this brandy is from 1912."