Nvidia is planning to take on Intel and AMD with a new CPU designed for use in consumer PCs, according to a report. The move could see the gaming GPU maker challenge the domination of Intel and AMD in the PC world, particularly when it comes to laptops and AI, but the company’s lack of an x86 license will present a challenge when it comes to this rumored Nvidia CPU running PC games and the PC’s expansive software back catalog.
Not only does Nvidia make the best graphics card for gaming right now, in the form of the RTX 4090, but it’s now also the world’s most valuable company, thanks to its huge strides in the AI world. We’re expecting the new RTX 5000 gaming GPU lineup to launch in the near future, but it looks as though Nvidia could also be launching a new CPU range in 2025 as well.
This latest report comes from DigiTimes (behind a paywall), which claims that Nvidia is working on a new Arm-based CPU to directly challenge Intel and AMD, corroborating previous rumors of an Nvidia Arm PC CPU. Nvidia can already make Arm CPUs, of course. If you own a Nintendo Switch, then you already have one in the device’s Tegra chip. Nvidia’s Tegra chips have also made their way into various Android phones and tablets, but so far Windows 10 and 11 on Arm have been exclusive to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips.
That could all change soon, however, as Arm CEO Rene Haas says that deal will end in 2024, which would open the door to other makers of Arm chips to make Windows-compatible CPUs. Not only that, but Arm has also threatened to cancel Qualcomm’s Arm license recently, which may be unlikely to actually happen, but is still now a possibility to consider. There are also rumors circulating that Qualcomm could buy Intel, potentially giving the former access to an x86 license. Regardless, the Qualcomm Snapdragon X range of Windows laptops could soon have a seriously challenger if this rumor proves true.
According to this summary of the DigiTimes report from Tom’s Hardware, Nvidia is gearing up to announce its new PC CPU lineup in September 2025, and March 2026 is then mooted as the date when the new CPUs ship, or potentially when Nvidia introduces a CPU range for business and commercial PCs.
Does this mean there will be a new Nvidia PC gaming CPU to challenge AMD and Nvidia in the desktop space? That’s unlikely for 2025, unless Nvidia pours a ton of resources into porting games over to the Arm architecture. Qualcomm has already demonstrated the potential for running games on Arm with its Snapdragon CPUs on laptops, and Apple has shown the power of well-optimized Arm CPUs in its own ecosystem.
However, Arm on Windows is still natively unsupported by most PC software and games, and desktop CPUs still need a lot of power to run games at the fastest frame rates. Still, Valve’s devotion to SteamOS eventually resulted in loads of PC games running on Linux for the Steam Deck, and if one company was going to make PC gaming on Arm happen, it would be Nvidia.
In the short term, though, we expect these first Nvidia PC Arm CPUs, if they are indeed in the works, will be optimized toward AI workloads, where Nvidia already has the upper hands, and laptops, where low-power operation is more important than on the desktop.
In the meantime, check out our RTX 5090 guide, where we round up everything we know about the expected new flagship Nvidia gaming GPU, as well as our RTX 5080 guide, which is expected to be its second-in-command.