Intel and NVIDIA tease new products as partnership grows deeper

Intel and NVIDIA appear to be moving toward a deeper product partnership, with Intel CEO Lip Bu Tan teasing “exciting new products” between the two companies.

Tan made the comment while congratulating NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, who received an honorary Doctor of Science and Technology degree at Carnegie Mellon’s 2026 Commencement. Tan also took part in the ceremony by placing the doctoral hood on Huang.

The public exchange matters because Intel and NVIDIA are no longer just rivals in parts of the chip market. The two companies have already announced closer cooperation, including NVIDIA’s $5 billion investment in Intel and plans to work together on future data center and consumer products.

The first major area is data centers. Intel and NVIDIA are expected to work on a custom Xeon CPU with NVLink support. That would help Intel CPUs connect more closely with NVIDIA’s AI platforms, which remain central to the current data center boom.

The second area is consumer hardware. NVIDIA’s RTX GPU technology is expected to appear in future Intel system on chips. One reported target is Serpent Lake, which may arrive around 2028 or 2029.

Here is the current picture:

Intel’s foundry business could become the bigger long term story. NVIDIA depends heavily on TSMC for its most important AI chips, but TSMC’s advanced packaging capacity remains tight. CoWoS bottlenecks and wafer supply limits have pushed major chip companies to look for extra capacity.

That gives Intel an opening. Intel has been trying to turn its foundry business into a serious alternative for major outside customers. Recent deals and talks involving Apple, Musk linked projects, and TeraFab have helped build confidence around Intel’s manufacturing comeback.

NVIDIA could become one of the most important names in that effort. Reports have suggested that future NVIDIA Feynman GPUs may use Intel’s EMIB advanced packaging. There is also speculation that Intel’s 18A P or 14A processes could be used for some NVIDIA chips, possibly in entry level or mid range client products.

Nothing has been fully detailed yet, so it is best to treat the exact products as unconfirmed. Still, the direction is clear. Intel wants major customers for its fabs, and NVIDIA needs more manufacturing and packaging options as AI demand keeps rising.

The relationship is also unusual because the companies still compete in some areas. Intel makes GPUs, CPUs, and AI hardware, while NVIDIA is expanding further into CPUs and full AI systems. But the current chip market is so constrained that cooperation can make sense even between competitors.

For Intel, a stronger NVIDIA partnership would be a major vote of confidence. For NVIDIA, Intel could provide another path for supply, packaging, and future platform design. If Tan’s tease leads to real products, this partnership could become one of the more important chip industry stories over the next few years.