NVIDIA is gearing up to produce an artificial intelligence (AI) processor for computers running the Windows operating system, as confirmed by top executives from Dell and NVIDIA. The company’s new processor will join the Windows on ARM (WoA) AI PC ecosystem, where Qualcomm currently stands as the sole player.
Additionally, NVIDIA CEO Michael Dell mentioned that this new AI PC processor could potentially be available to users by 2025. Speculations about which intellectual property (IP) blocks NVIDIA might utilize for this chip have already started circulating. The most debated topic revolves around the choice of CPU cores and the node selection. Here are the latest details…
NVIDIA’s new AI PC processor could leverage ARM Cortex X5 CPU cores and Blackwell graphics Given NVIDIA’s preparation to launch the AI PC processor by 2025, it’s speculated that the company might opt to use reference ARM IP CPU cores like the ARM Cortex X5 Blackhawk. This way, the company might not need to develop its own CPU cores on the ARM machine architecture, similar to what Apple has done. Of course, depending on how the market responds to the chips, NVIDIA might eventually develop its own cores as well. The company could also utilize the most advanced node available in 2025, such as TSMC N3P. Considering that even Apple and Qualcomm are planning to build their new laptop chips on this node, it would be a logical choice for NVIDIA.
There are also rumors suggesting that NVIDIA could integrate an iGPU based on the Blackwell graphics architecture for its new AI PC processor. This would enable the chip to have high-performance graphics, supporting technologies like DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan.
For the intended purpose of AI acceleration, it’s believed that the iGPU, along with tensor cores, will be used as an AI co-processor. This would allow the company to expose the GPU to Windows as an NPU virtual device and accelerate AI operations using a set of translation layers for software like TensorRT. Considering that Microsoft’s Copilot+ requires only 45 AI TOPS to accelerate a local session, this would be easily achievable for NVIDIA.
NVIDIA’s upcoming ARM-based AI PC processor, set to hit the market in 2025, marks a significant development in the industry. With its yet-to-be-disclosed specifications, the new processor is expected to deliver high performance in AI and graphics tasks, while also opening up new possibilities for Windows users.
