Image: Fritchens Fritz/Wikimedia
You might not know it, but Nvidia builds a lot of Arm processors. In addition to its self-branded and much-loved SHIELD set-top boxes, it makes the Tegra heart of every Nintendo Switch, now over 140 million of them as its generation winds down.
According to a new report, Nvidia wants to develop a Snapdragon competitor for Windows-based hardware as soon as next year.
DigiTimes Asia reports that Nvidia is designing a combined CPU-GPU system-on-chip specifically for consumer PCs, which would compete head-to-head with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X series. That would give manufacturers like Dell, Lenovo, Acer, and others a secondary option for Arm-based Windows machines, broadening the market to include four major players: Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, and now Nvidia.
The report says that Nvidia is hoping to launch the SoC product in September 2025, with consumer machines ready to roll out in early 2026. That would presumably put it past the exclusivity agreement between Microsoft and Qualcomm for Windows on Arm-based hardware (though the specifics of that deal have never been verified). It’s also worth pointing out that an elevated patent dispute between the Arm corporation and Qualcomm might have Microsoft and its partners eager to diversify their hardware options.
Rumblings of Nvidia Arm chip development have been around for a while. Nvidia has more experience with Arm-based chips than you might think, thanks to years of work in the mobile, console, and set-top box spaces. Those chips are pretty long in the tooth now — they haven’t had a major revision in over seven years — but Nvidia is rumored to be supplying new chips for the upcoming Switch 2 as well.
And there’s another factor to consider: Nvidia is absolutely overflowing with money right now thanks to the AI boom. By some measures, it’s now the most valuable company on the planet. And just as Nvidia successfully navigated the busted crypto bubble, it might be looking to diversify beyond GPUs and data centers to make sure it stays at the top of the heap should the AI market suddenly weaken. Expanding into a new market and selling potentially millions of SoCs for OEM computer manufacturers would be a great way to spread out its offerings.
That said, none of this information can be independently confirmed. We’ll be keeping an eye on the PC market for any big shifts next year… not that we weren’t going to do that anyway, of course.
Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer, PCWorld
Michael is a 10-year veteran of technology journalism, covering everything from Apple to ZTE. On PCWorld he’s the resident keyboard nut, always using a new one for a review and building a new mechanical board or expanding his desktop “battlestation” in his off hours. Michael’s previous bylines include Android Police, Digital Trends, Wired, Lifehacker, and How-To Geek, and he’s covered events like CES and Mobile World Congress live. Michael lives in Pennsylvania where he’s always looking forward to his next kayaking trip.
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