[qzw]

Remember when Microsoft invested in Apple when Apple was down in the dumps? This is giving similar vibes. That deal was arguably what saved Apple near its nadir. I’m not a fan of Intel’s past monopolistic practices, but for the sake of sustaining competition in the CPU/GPU market, I hope this deal works out for them even half as well as the MS deal did for Apple.

[jasode]

>Remember when Microsoft invested in Apple when Apple was down in the dumps? This is giving similar vibes.

Doesn't feel the same because the 1997 investment was arranged by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. He had a long personal relationship with Bill Gates so could just call him to drop the outstanding lawsuits and get a commitment for future Office versions on the Mac. Basically, Steve Jobs at relatively young age of 42 was back at Apple in "founder mode" and made bold moves that the prior CEO Gil Amelio couldn't do.

Intel doesn't have the same type of leadership. Their new CEO is a career finance/investor instead of a "new products new innovation" type of leader. This $5 billion investment feels more like the result of back-channel discussions with the US government where they "politely" ask NVIDIA to help out Intel in exchange for less restrictions selling chips to China.

[jszymborski]

> This $5 billion investment feels more like the result of back-channel discussions with the US government where they "politely" ask NVIDIA to help out Intel in exchange for less restrictions selling chips to China.

Stinks of Mussolini-style Corporatism to me.

[teiuh3839879]

Except ofc. China has banned Nvidia.

https://www.ft.com/content/12adf92d-3e34-428a-8d61-c91695119...

[RachelF]

Microsoft also invested $100M in Borland at the same time.

Investing in Apple and Borland were an counter-anti-trust legal move, keeping the competitors alive, but on life support. This way they could say to the government "yes there is competition".

Google does the same these days by keeping Firefox alive.

[tremon]

I don't think that's an apt comparison, given that Microsoft and Apple were more direct competitors than Intel and Nvidia; the latter have a more symbiotic relationship. I think the rationale is closer to the competitor of my competitor is my friend -- they face two threats by AMD growing larger in the CPU market:

- a bigger R&D budget for their main competitor in the GPU market

- since Nvidia doesn't have their own CPUs, they risk becoming more dependent on their main competitor for total system performance.

[scrlk]

> since Nvidia doesn't have their own CPUs, they risk becoming more dependent on their main competitor for total system performance.

This is why they built the Grace CPU - noting that they're using Arm's Neoverse V2 cores rather than their own design.

[readams]

Here's Nvidia's CPUs, which are increasingly a required part of their data center offerings:

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/data-center/grace-cpu/

[xbmcuser]

Nah I have feeling this is part of the result of the arm twisting to be allowed to sell to China.

[mandevil]

This is a big ask for a shrinking market- with the pressure that the Chinese government is putting on their domestic companies to not buy H20's, I'm not sure how big this is going to be going forward. 5 billion (plus whatever it costs to build these products) is a lot for a market that is probably going to be closed soon.

[jeffwask]

It's even more ironic when you remember in 2005 the tables were turned, and Intel was trying to buy Nvidia.

[mrtksn]

Does intel have someone who will return and change the course of the company or return to its original mission or something of that sort?

[sigwinch]

Oh, I bet Elon has been handed some ideas.

[znpy]

> Remember when Microsoft invested in Apple when Apple was down in the dumps?

Had Apple failed, Microsoft would probably have been found to have a clear monopolistic position. And microsoft was already in hot waters due to InternetExplorer IIRC.

[rhetocj23]

Yep. MSFT needed Apple because of Anti-trust issues.

Apples demise wouldve nailed the case.

[ErigmolCt]

That Microsoft-Apple deal was part lifeline, part strategic insurance. Intel clearly needs a win, and Nvidia needs more control over its ecosystem without being chained to TSMC forever

[vjvjvjvjghv]

All they need now is a CEO like Steve Jobs…

[__turbobrew__]

Jensen moves to intel …

[signa11]

where / who is intel's steve-jobs ?

[aenopix]

Competition?