Intel CEO Chen Liwu recently put on a doctoral hat for Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at Carnegie Mellon University, congratulating the latter on being awarded an honorary doctorate in science and technology. He also revealed that Intel and Nvidia are working together to create a series of "exciting new products," indicating that the cooperation between the two technology giants will further heat up.
At Carnegie Mellon University's 2026 commencement ceremony, Huang delivered the keynote speech and was awarded an honorary doctorate in science and technology. Chen Liwu wore a doctor's hat on him at the scene, and spoke highly of Huang Renxun's contribution to the fields of accelerated computing and artificial intelligence in his congratulations, saying it was "a deep honor" to personally confer this degree on him. Chen Liwu also mentioned that Intel and Nvidia are jointly developing new products, and these products are "very exciting."
This stance comes against the backdrop of the growing relationship between Intel and Nvidia in the fields of semiconductors and cutting-edge technologies. The two companies have previously announced that they will cooperate on a number of products, including Nvidia's plan to invest $5 billion in Intel to develop a package of cooperation around data centers and consumer platforms. According to earlier reports, the first key project of both parties is to create a customized Xeon processor integrating NVIDIA NVLink technology for data centers. In the consumer market, NVIDIA RTX graphics technology will be integrated into next-generation system-on-chip (SoC). The first related SoCs are expected to be launched between 2028 and 2029 under the name "Serpent Lake".
In terms of foundry business, Intel has ushered in a huge opportunity that is "hidden in the open" for Nvidia. Currently, NVIDIA's core data center chips mainly rely on TSMC for production, but it has repeatedly encountered bottlenecks in advanced packaging production capacity such as CoWoS, and TSMC's overall production capacity is difficult to fully meet NVIDIA's growing wafer demand. Therefore, Nvidia has been looking for a second foundry partner that can take on some of the GPU production tasks, and Intel, which is aggressively expanding its foundry footprint, is gradually becoming a realistic option.
Intel's foundry business has recently won orders from TeraFab and Apple, further enhancing its confidence and attractiveness among external customers. Among them, TeraFab will use advanced processes such as Intel 14A, and Apple plans to have its next-generation MacBook Neo chip A21 manufactured by Intel. These cooperations are seen as a positive signal to potential major customers, including Nvidia: Intel's fabs are already capable of undertaking advanced chip production and are willing to accept external orders.
Industry rumors show that Nvidia's next-generation GPU, codenamed "Feynman", is expected to use Intel's EMIB advanced packaging technology. At the same time, some GPUs may even be produced directly using Intel's 18A-P or 14A process, especially for entry-to-mid-range client products, such as gaming graphics cards. At present, the specific chips that will actually land in Intel factories have not yet been finalized, but what is certain is that as the two companies continue to deepen their linkage on multiple fronts such as capital, products and foundry, the cooperative relationship between the "chip giant" and the "graphics giant" is rapidly heating up.
At the Carnegie Mellon ceremony, Nvidia and Intel executives appeared together, which not only symbolized the coronation of personal honors, but was also regarded as a symbolic moment for the two companies to increase their future cooperation. As the two parties continue to advance projects in the fields of customized data center CPUs, consumer-grade SoCs with integrated RTX, and advanced processes and packaging foundries, it is generally expected that the two companies will announce more blockbuster news about joint product and manufacturing cooperation in the near future.