[DigitalToday reporter Chi-gyu Hwang] How much influence can “Nvidia Inside” have on consumers’ decisions to buy a PC or not?

With Nvidia releasing RTX Spark, an integrated PC chip aimed at AI agents, attention is focusing on whether it can show influence similar to what Intel once enjoyed in the PC market with “Intel Inside.”

In the 1990s, Intel’s marketing campaign that put the Intel Inside logo on PC cases led consumers to perceive PCs with Intel chips as premium. That played an important role in Intel’s dominance of the CPU market.

After smartphones became widespread, PC buyers shifted toward choosing reasonably priced, adequate products rather than scrutinising detailed specifications. But the mood has recently changed. As AI agents spread, CPU capabilities to handle AI have emerged again as a variable that could influence whether consumers and companies decide to buy PCs. Against that backdrop, Nvidia appears to be seeking to expand its influence beyond data centres into the PC market, leveraging its reputation in AI.

Nvidia has long been active in the PC market for decades with GPUs often used in gaming PCs. But this is its first time expanding into CPUs, the heart of the PC dominated by Intel and AMD.

Before Nvidia, Intel and others released chips that support AI, and PC makers have equipped high-performance product lines with chips that process AI directly on the device. But AI has still not had much influence on purchases by consumers and companies.

The Wall Street Journal reported that, at this point, AI PC sales are closer to consumers buying a PC and then finding it supports AI than buying because of AI. Jitesh Ubrani (지테시 우브라니) of market research firm IDC said, “These days, buyers who purchase AI PCs are not doing so because of AI. They do it because at a certain performance level there are no alternatives.”

Will it be different when Nvidia does it? Judging by the mood, Nvidia appears to be viewed as having relatively higher potential in the AI PC market than Intel. The WSJ reported that Nvidia, with brand power built during the AI boom, is expected to be able to persuade consumers and companies of the need for AI PCs far more easily than Intel or AMD, and even Apple.

In the fiscal year ended in January, Nvidia’s PC-related revenue grew 41 percent from a year earlier to more than $16 billion. Introducing new video game chips under the Blackwell brand also had a positive effect on revenue growth. Total PC sales in 2025 rose only 8 percent, according to IDC.

The software ecosystem is cited as one of the barriers Nvidia must overcome as it seeks to expand its share in the PC market.

Unlike Intel and AMD, which are x86-based, Nvidia’s RTX Spark is based on the Arm architecture widely used in mobile chips. Windows Central reported that Arm-based PCs may have advantages over the x86 camp in areas such as battery life, but securing sufficient compatibility with existing x86-chip-based applications could be a challenge. It has not yet been confirmed whether Nvidia has resolved compatibility issues with x86-based applications. For current Snapdragon-based Arm PCs, Microsoft’s Prism emulation layer runs x86 apps, but Windows Central reported there are limitations with some older apps or the latest games.

Microsoft also offers Windows for Arm-based chips, but Arm chips still face disadvantages compared with x86-based PCs in software development and the ecosystem. That is particularly true in gaming, which is Nvidia’s core source of revenue, according to the report. Even so, Nvidia’s push into PCs is likely to further weaken the remaining advantage of the x86 architecture in the PC market, and especially so in the Windows PC market where Arm chips have struggled to expand their foothold, the WSJ reported.