Rivals Intel and AMD partner to take on Nvidia

Rivals Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) are teaming up to produce a laptop computer chip that uses an Intel processor and an AMD graphics unit. The partnership will pit the two companies against competitor Nvidia. The new chip will be made for laptops that are designed to be thin and portable, but still powerful enough for gamers who need a stronger option to play intensive games. It’ll be part of Intel’s eighth-generation Intel Core line and marks Intel and AMD’s first partnership since the 1980s, as The Wall Street Journal notes.

The laptops built with the new chips won’t be competing with AMD’s Ryzen chips, which are also designed for ultrathin laptops and due out at the end of this year. AMD specified that these new Intel chips will be aimed at serious gamers, whereas Ryzen chips can run games but aren’t specifically designed for that purpose. Intel says this is the first consumer product that uses the EMIB small intelligent bridge design, which allows information to be passed quickly in “extremely close proximity.” The bridge allows chips to be both smaller and more powerful. The new chip will use HBM2, and can be used in devices including notebooks, two-in-ones, and mini desktops. Intel has previously investigated chips modeled after the human brain to build better hardware for AI uses. Nvidia is also working on hardware for AI applications.