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Intel and NVIDIA sign massive licensing deal

Essential linkage: The patent dispute between Intel and Nvidia is over, and from the ashes rises a massive cross-licensing setup.

The curse of being an Antipodean tech site has struck again, and we've been totally gazumped on a massive bit of news. Nvidia and Intel has just announced, via a con-call, a $1.5 billion (paid by Intel to Nvidia) cross-licensing deal that opens up each company's technologies for six years.

The stories broken across a number of overseas outlets, but Ars Technica has arguably the best scoop and quotes:

"The cross-licensing agreement allows Intel to integrate NVIDIA technologies and those that are covered by our patents into their CPUs, such as Sandy Bridge, for example," said Jen-Hsuan. "And a cross-license allows us to build processors and take advantage of Intel patents for the types of processor we're building—Project Denver, Tegra, and the types of processors we're going to build in the future."

Big news? It's giant news. It means that Nvidia has officially bowed out of making its own X86 part, and that the GPU power of the Sandy Bridge platform could see significant boosts.

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14 Comments

nesquick Jan 11, 2011 11:54 AM	It was inevitable I suppose.
Opy Jan 11, 2011 12:25 PM	We're gonna need a bigger heat sink.
thesorehead Jan 11, 2011 12:28 PM	cooooool
m_a_g_e Jan 11, 2011 12:48 PM	I smell big brother
xBomx Jan 11, 2011 1:04 PM	"the GPU power of the Sandy Bridge platform could see significant boos" Also possibly GPU Multi-thread, the conventional alternative.
Devit Jan 11, 2011 2:01 PM	IntIDIA or NVIntel?
tunksy Jan 11, 2011 3:47 PM	hmm if intel get an nvidia gpu into thier SB 2011 series cpus amd will be in big trouble. I hope bulldozer is good, in a big way.
jdog Jan 11, 2011 4:30 PM	this is good for the future of inbuilt GPU's but i hope this doesnt end up in skt 2011...
Sher Khan Jan 11, 2011 4:31 PM	This should stir up the pot for the next few years! I wonder if we can expect CPU's with embeded cuda cores and Physx becoming a defacto standard for Physics engines?
AMD AKIMBO Jan 11, 2011 7:51 PM	smart move would be making a integrated gpu with dx11 and enough power/flexability to be used as pissx gpu if you use a external gpu. can only mean better integrated boards its a win win, (not for amd).
xBomx Jan 11, 2011 8:33 PM	In geeky laymens terms, the algorithm of physx should be: - Physx GPU = 0 - Assign Pyysx to core2,3or4 if "_ _" +thread(S) = 1 this would take a heavy load of the GPU and let it focus on just textures and well tessellations. In my opinion, it would also be desirable for microsoft to jump in with intel & nvidea, just so to construct a new conventional architecture with direct x 12, with the purpose that since they (intel+nvidea) are conducting an open research, a Multi-GPU with with multi-thread is desirable in conjunction with direct x API that can utilize such an apparatus.
sladeXS Jan 12, 2011 5:03 AM	have a company as big as microsoft jump into bed with intel and nvidia? god i hope not, whats that game we used to play when we were younger, ohh yea.... monopoly. while your at it, lets merge apple and google so that there are is only one smartphone provider/developer. we need more companies with a stake in the market, not less... imo
Opy Jan 12, 2011 9:26 AM	My guess is that this move isn't actually aimed at improving the benchmarks and performance for Atomicans but removes the need for on board graphics capabilties for the average notebook, soho and office PC. Making the motherboards a touch cheaper for those purposes. Benefits for us are probably a lower priority from Intel's point of view. nVidia might find ways of improving benchmarks through splitting functions between the on chip GPU and the real GTX cards we are still going to be buying (if they don't screw it up, making the last of the nVidia fans move to AMD cards).
SceptreCore Jan 12, 2011 9:37 PM	It's clearly an answer to Fusion, which when it finally came out, handed Atom's arse to it... and in not too good condition. Will take a while for them to get something going, but by then... AMD will have established itself as the best in class APU provider. That and AMD seems to have the better graphics technology at the moment. Even they're losing the battle somewhat.

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Issue: 137 | June, 2012

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