Nvidia Tightens Its Grip on Computing With a Move Into PCs
The AI factory is getting a desktop address. After years of supplying the chips behind the AI boom, Nvidia is making a direct push into consumer PCs. The move threatens the long-held dominance of Intel and AMD as AI capabilities increasingly shift onto personal devices.
Reinventing the machine: Nvidia unveiled its RTX Spark Superchip at Computex in Taipei, partnering with MediaTek to build a processor for Microsoft's Windows on Arm platform. The chip already has broad industry support, with Dell Technologies, Lenovo, HP, Microsoft, Asus, and MSI planning around 30 premium laptop models and 10 desktop models this fall. These include ultra-thin laptops that weigh less than 3 pounds.
- The RTX Spark packs up to 20 CPU cores and a 6.1K-core Blackwell GPU into a single architecture, with TSMC manufacturing the chip on its 3N process.
- Nvidia said future versions of the chip will move beyond premium devices, allowing PC makers to target a wider range of price points.
The Desktop AI Race
Nvidia is pitching AI agents as the next major computing shift. Referring to chatbots, Nvidia VP Kari Briski said, “That era is ending,” arguing that “agents are the new workload.” At Computex, Jensen Huang called RTX Spark “as big of a deal as the reinvention of the phone into what we now know as the smartphone.” Arm Holdings surged as RTX Spark’s CPU design is built on Arm architecture, while Wall Street started repricing the competitive landscape.
- The rally spread beyond chipmakers, with Nebius, ServiceNow, IBM, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise climbing on expectations of stronger AI demand.
- Meanwhile, Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm fell as RTX Spark altered the balance of power in the AI PC market.
Stacking the odds: Nvidia’s data center revenue still dwarfs anything the PC market can offer. Its latest quarterly revenue roughly matched Intel and AMD’s combined sales for all of last year. But RTX Spark pushes Nvidia beyond AI servers and onto consumer desktops, tightening its grip on the entire AI stack. As Jensen Huang put it, “One hundred percent of the world’s PC industry has joined us to reinvent the PC” — making the battle for AI PCs officially underway.
