Intel, AMD co-develop new processor with Intel CPU and AMD GPU

Intel has unveiled a new Intel Core processor which combines a high-performance CPU with custom discrete graphics from AMD. Both the companies confirmed to PCWorld that Intel first approached AMD for a partnership.

As AMD’s press release reads, the red team has designed a semi-custom graphics processor unit (GPU) that will be integrated into a new Intel multi-chip processor package.

Just a couple weeks after launching its new 8th Gen Core processors, Intel has just made an exciting announcement that could be very positive for future laptops and 2-in-1 devices.

The chip is expected to ship as early as Q1 2018. After years of rivalry, Intel and AMD have now chose to team up to build a new laptop chip to take on Nvidia. Some more important details, like variants, remain undisclosed. Though Nvidia leads the graphics chip market with products popular among gamers and cryptocurrency miners, AMD is slowly closing in on that gap.

Intel offered up a video to show how everything comes together. It implements bits of silicon instead of circuit board traces to connect the various components of the CPU, eventually saving space as well as reducing energy consumption. There’s the vehicle market, where Intel recently won a march against Nvidia by signing a deal with Tesla for its in-car entertainment systems. There’s an important question people should be asking. The report speculates that Intel is likely licensing EMIB technology to AMD to enable it to connect its GPU and memory. It’s also a challenge to graphics chip maker Nvidia, a common foe of both AMD and Intel. For several quarters, Nvidia’s chip sales have been up by triple digits from the previous year.

The chip sees Intel provide the CPU while AMD, despite its own processor prowess with the Ryzen CPUs, provides the GPU hardware.

But a crucial question remains. Anytime there are multiple chips or dies on one package, there is the complex issue of managing power, bandwidth, and communication between them. However, high-end laptops with the capability of playing heavy games are still popular.

There’s little doubt that Intel’s graphical grunt doesn’t hold a candle to the power of AMD’s arsenal, but what if the two could come together to make something stronger? Feel free to sound off in the comments section below!