[DigitalToday reporter Chi-gyu Hwang (황치규)] Nvidia is introducing a system-on-chip that integrates a CPU (central processing unit), GPU (graphics processing unit) and NPU (neural processing unit), targeting the laptop market.

That is drawing intense interest in how much it could threaten Intel, AMD and Qualcomm, which dominate the CPU market. A recent Wall Street Journal report said Dell and Lenovo plan to launch products this year featuring Nvidia’s laptop chip.

It has not been officially announced when PCs using Nvidia chips will be released or which companies will offer them. WSJ reported, citing sources familiar with Nvidia’s supply chain, that PC companies including Dell and Lenovo are working with Nvidia.

WSJ reported Nvidia is not expecting big profits from the PC business right away, but wants to maintain touchpoints with individual users as AI becomes embedded in all devices. Interest in PCs is far lower than in AI and smartphones, but laptops remain a business large enough for Nvidia to pay attention to, it said.

Nvidia and its partners are focusing on making PCs lighter and thinner while delivering longer battery life.

System-on-chips are standard in smartphones such as the iPhone, but they are not widely adopted in PCs. That is putting a spotlight on whether Nvidia can deliver smartphone-like efficiency and battery life to PCs without sacrificing performance. Analysts see Nvidia’s move leading hardware running Microsoft’s Windows OS to compete more directly with Apple’s latest MacBook models, WSJ reported.

For PC chips, Nvidia is working with Intel and Taiwan chip designer MediaTek, WSJ reported. The partnership with Intel was announced last year and centres on integrating Intel CPUs with Nvidia graphics and AI technology.

The partnership with MediaTek was informally disclosed in January when Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang visited Taiwan. Sources said MediaTek’s system-on-chip is based on the Arm architecture and could be introduced in the first half.

One of the markets Nvidia is targeting with the system-on-chip is video gamers who are willing to pay premium prices for hardware and are familiar with Nvidia. WSJ said Nvidia’s challenge will be ensuring high-end games and other applications designed for Intel standards are compatible with its chips.

Nvidia’s expansion from GPUs into CPUs is not limited to the PC market. Signs are emerging that Nvidia’s presence could grow in the data-centre CPU market. Nvidia recently signed a long-term contract to supply AI chips to Meta. Under the deal, Meta plans to build data centres by adopting Nvidia’s current-generation and next-generation AI chips at scale. The contract is drawing attention because it includes Nvidia’s Grace CPU as well as GPUs. Meta became the first company to deploy Grace CPUs separately at scale rather than providing them together with GPUs in servers.

Intel and AMD have led the data-centre CPU market, but attention is growing on how the industry landscape may change as Nvidia expands into CPU supply. Nvidia has recently marketed its next-generation CPU, Vera, as a standalone product and has been highlighting the importance of CPUs in AI inference workloads. Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy said, "Nvidia is strengthening an independent position in the CPU market as well."