NVIDIA's CEO shared an interesting memory from the past, where Jensen claims that Intel had been after his company for several decades, but fate had other plans.
NVIDIA Witnessed Massive Troubles From Intel During the Mid-2000s, In the Form Of Licensing Unfairness & Lawsuits
Well, there is no doubt that Intel was the 'boss' working in the computing industry during the mid-2000s, where the firm reigned in several segments, whether it was the consumer industry or professional markets. NVIDIA was a much smaller firm at the time, but Team Green was making steady and disruptive progress, which had bothered Intel back then. Jensen has actually recalled this instance while speaking with Jim Cramer. NVIDIA's CEO was asked about Intel's partnership and how he feels about the fact that his company was 'targeted' by individuals such as former CEO Andy Grove, and here's what he said:
Jim Cramer: Now, I know Intel from, I knew Andy Grove, a person on the board, who suggested that they do a deal, make a deal with a company that sounded a lot like you during the period when I know you were speaking to Andy. And Andy was quite disrespectful, but that was his way. He just was his way.
NVIDIA's Jensen Huang: It's not the way, it's the way that he had himself, set himself up, frankly. Intel dedicated 33 years of our lives trying to kill us.
Comments by Jensen Huang were definitely not 'serious' here, but he did express his opinions regarding the stance taken by Intel when NVIDIA was climbing the ladder. For those a bit confused about what he was talking about here, there are several verified and unverified reports of Intel trying to suppress competition by framing IP and licensing agreements with the likes of Intel. More specifically, NVIDIA had a contract to build chipsets for Intel CPUs, but later switched to an internal design, which led to a license interpretation fight that NVIDIA eventually won. These are just very 'fine line' details here.
Well, Jensen did show optimism around his company's recent deal with Intel, praising the role of CEO Lip-Bu Tan in actually driving the agreement. He claimed that the NVIDIA-Intel deal is a win-win situation for both parties involved, as NVIDIA would enter a massive consumer segment, allowing them to build chips for Intel and capitalize on a multi-billion-dollar market. Similarly, Team Blue would get the opportunity to enter the mainstream DC segment by designing x86 CPUs for NVIDIA's rack-scale solutions.
History has its way of teaching lessons, and it seems that on this occasion, Intel witnessed a lesson in humility. Once struggling, NVIDIA has now reached a point where announcing partnerships leads to a massive valuation increase of the firm's partners.
About the author: Muhammad Zuhair is a hardware and technology reporter for Wccftech, specializing in the semiconductor industry and the complex interplay between technology, manufacturing, and geopolitics. His coverage focuses on the corporate strategies and technological roadmaps of industry giants like TSMC, NVIDIA, Samsung, and Intel. Zuhair's expertise lies in deconstructing complex topics such as fabrication nodes (e.g., 2nm process), the economic impact of policies like the CHIPS Act, and the strategic development of AI infrastructure from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel.
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