NVIDIA is reportedly on track to launch its Arm-Based PC processors in the next 24 months, with the first to arrive as early as next fall. It was back in May when a rumor began circulating that NVIDIA and MediaTek have been collaborating to develop an Arm-based PC processor and it looks like we may be getting closer to an official announcement regarding it. According to DigiTimes (via Tom’s Hardware), NVIDIA is reportedly on track to either announce or release, its consumer-grade products in September 2025 with commercial offerings sometime in 2026.
Per Tom’s Hardware:
- “It is unclear whether DigiTimes means that Nvidia is set to introduce two platforms: one for consumer computers in September 2025 and another for business and commercial PCs in March 2026, or that Nvidia will formally introduce its PC platform in September and then ship it in volume in March.”
This would not be NVIDIA’s first foray into non-GPU territory. Its Tegra processors have previously been used in Android devices along with the shortlived Windows on Arm platforms from 2011 which used the Windows RT OS, a scaled-down version of Windows that never gained traction. NVIDIA has since maintained a contract with Nintendo for its Switch console which uses an NVIDIA Tegra X1 processor, introduced in 2015, featuring Maxwell graphics paired with an ARM Cortex-A57 CPU. A similar processor is used in the NVIDIA Shield. To date, there are no details regarding possible specifications for a line of Arm-based CPUs co-designed by MediaTek and NVIDIA, but they are expected to compete against AMD, likely Intel as well, and potentially Apple. MediaTek currently has its Dimensity 9400 SoC processor which is found within flagship 5G phones offering impressive specs that could hint at things to come from this rumored partnership.
Dimensity 9400 Specifications (via product page):
- Processor: 1x Arm Cortex-X925, 2MB L2 cache, up to 3.63 GHz, 3x Arm Cortex-X4, 1MB L2 cache, 4x Arm Cortex-A720, 512KB L2 cache, 12MB L3 cache, 10MB SLC
- Cores: Octa (8)
- Memory Type: LPDDR5X
- Max Memory Frequency: 10667 Mbps
- Storage Type: UFS 4 + MCQ
- GPU Type: Arm Immortalis-G925 MC12
- Video: 8K60, 10-bit Video Decode (HEVC/AVC/VP9/AV1), 8K30, 10-bit Video Encode (HEVC/AVC), 8K60, 8-bit HEVC Encode
- AI Processing Unit: MediaTek NPU 890 (Generative AI, Agentic AI)
Discussion (6 replies)
Join Discussion →This will be an interesting few years with Intel on the decline and Nvidia entering the CPU market.
Is this just carrying on from Tegra?
If I remeber they were power hungry.
let's see how these work out.
AMD probably doesn't have anything to fear, at least for now but with MediaTek (Dimensity), Qualcomm (Snapdragon Elite), and now NVIDIA closing in, not to mention Apple and its M-series chips, Intel needs to step up its game quickly or else there will be more nails in the coffin within 12-24 months. Arm-based Windows is still a ways off in terms of x86 performance but that might not be an issue for too much longer as it continues to evolve. The clock is ticking.
The entire linchpin here is Windows supporting ARM, and how well Microsoft can maintain that translation layer while systems straddle between x86 and ARM.
Apple has been able to do it fairly seamlessly, several times in fact, but Microsoft hasn't been able to do it yet.
Maybe nVidia and others will put resources behind making that happen, but given that all these other manufacturers are relying on Microsoft to provide an OS - that's gonna be the make it or break it point.
They should focus on getting x86 back decent for their users b4 going on an extra route
This is kinda funny.
You are absolutely right. Microsoft should be focusing on their user experience. I don't really know what Microsoft does anymore besides somehow make money with Azure, which I still don't really understand. Every change they seem to have brought to Windows/Office in the past .. oh, I don't know, 15 years, have been regressions rather than progression. Or maybe I'm just yelling at kids to get off my lawn, i don't know.
It's the hardware industry (less Intel/AMD) that's desperate for them to come up with that bridge/compatibility layer. Microsoft doesn't have a whole lot of skin in that - people aren't going to migrate away from Windows short of something paradigm-changing happening. If Microsoft decides to stick with x86, the PC industry will as well. If Microsoft decides to shift to ARM, so will the PC industry. Heck - Microsoft could come out and announce today they are going to move everything to RISC V for Windows 12 and I bet you'd start seeing RISC V hardware on the shelves in less than a year.