14 DAY TRIAL // Lightning-fast rumors reveal that Intel is working on creating an add-in graphics board for high-end gamers and professional 3d graphics workstations.
The Intel website section dedicated to the industry giant's latest graphics developments has a tag line reading "Create next-gen graphics and gaming experiences." As you may know, Intel is already considered to be the lead supplier of integrated graphics chips in the industry, which are mostly included in laptops. Intel might have a massive share of the market overall, but it has a zero share in the discrete market for add-in boards.
Thus, Intel decided to prepare for a little war against AMD/ATI alliance and Nvidia. Both AMD and Nvidia already produce GPUs and chipsets, not to mention AMD's CPU rivalry. With the assembling new graphics division, Intel will not only become the third player on the graphics market, it will also become a major threat for the ever-battling Nvidia and ATI (now a division of AMD) overlords.
Here's what the job application on the Intel website announces: "Intel's Visual Computing Group (VCG) has the mission to establish the future of computing for high-throughput workloads. We are focused on developing discrete graphics products based on a many-core architecture targeting high-end client platforms. Our vision is that the resulting ingredients and technology will extend to mobile clients, servers, and embedded platforms over time. VCG will initially focus on discrete graphics products but will also expand the previous charter to include developing plans for accelerated CPU integration."
Given the impressive amount of resources and accumulated engineering experience Intel has, it looks like the graphics market is in for some great changes. Come to think of it, Nvidia might do the same with its plans to transform the GeForce GPUs into a powerful CPU line-up.