14 DAY TRIAL // Santa Clara, California-based Intel is expected to update its product lineup with the introduction of its much anticipated Larrabee graphics chip, which is said to provide a serious competition for similar products from NVIDIA and AMD. On that note details on the company's business model have recently surfaced on the Internet, claiming that the chip maker will adopt the same business plan as its neighbor and future competitor, NVIDIA. More specifically, Intel is said to have reached an agreement with NVIDIA's long-time, exclusive partner, EVGA, which is reportedly going to become one of Intel's launch partners.
NVIDIA's relationship with some of its main partners has changed significantly over the course of the last few months, as the company saw some of these enterprises dropping their GeForce exclusivity and starting to sell Radeon cards as well. Such is the case with leading brands like Gainward and XFX, which are currently selling both Radeon and GeForce graphics cards. However, according to a recent news-story on The Inquirer, EVGA is also preparing to drop its NVIDIA exclusivity and become a partner for Intel and its future Larrabee GPUs.
At this time, these are pure speculations and EVGA could continue its long history as an NVIDIA partner, even when Intel officially takes the wraps off its much anticipated Larrabee graphics processing unit. However, it should be noted that, with the launch of the X58, Core i7 platform, EVGA hasn't hesitated in releasing some designs of its own based on the high-end Intel platform. This could be a first step in an upcoming collaboration with Intel as EVGA prepares to leave its long-time partner.
Intel should be unveiling its much anticipated Larrabee GPU sometime in 2010, as the fruit of a project that has been going on for some time now. This will enable Intel to compete with AMD in all market segments, including processors, chipsets and GPUs.