
In a surprise move that turns decades of PC industry history on its head, Intel[1] and AMD[2] have announced a joint effort to develop a processor that integrates Intel's CPU architecture and AMD's graphics technology. The new chip will be aimed at thin and light notebooks for gamers and enthusiasts, and the companies both say that it will deliver the same gaming performance as today's discrete notebook GPUs, but will require less than half the footprint.
The initiative is referred to as a single chip, not a product line. It will be part of Intel's current 8th Generation notebook processor lineup[3], and is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2018. The collaboration between Intel and AMD has been rumoured for some time, with some reports going so far as to suggest that Intel was in talks to acquire AMD's Radeon Technologies Group in an effort to better compete with Nvidia[4].
Enabling the new chip is a combination of both companies' recent developments. According to Intel, its new Embedded Multi-Die Interconnect Bridge (EMIB) technology allow the heterogenous CPU and GPU to coexist on a single package and communicate with each other at very high speed. It also helps make the manufacturing of such a chip easier. Intel also says that it has developed an advanced power sharing framework that allows power to be delivered and balanced between the CPU, GPU and embedded graphics memory, which allows notebooks to be designed thinner and lighter, with simpler cooling requirements.
AMD is treating the GPU as a semi-custom part, just like the ones it ships for the Xbox One X[5] and PlayStation 4 Pro[6]. The end product will be...