The "NVIDIA is secretly working on an x86 chip" rumor that Charlie at the Inquirer has been flogging since at least 2006 has just been given a major boost, and by none other than NVIDIA itself.
A bit-tech.net reporter was in the audience at a recent Morgan Stanley Technology Conference, when NVIDIA VP Mike Hara seemed to indicate that the company is considering developing a x86 CPU for the mobile space sometime in the next two years.
I've always been a major doubter of the NVIDIA-produced x86 rumors, though I know at least one other tech reporter besides Charlie who's sold on the story. But Hara's remarks make it fairly clear that the company is indeed headed in this direction.
Based on what Hara said, it seems that NVIDIA would be looking to do a Tegra-like SoC design, but one that pairs an x86 core with an NVIDIA GPU (as opposed to Tegra's ARM + GPU pairing).
Why would NVIDIA do this? Because, as a recent and widely linked Jon Peddie report correctly points out, the integrated graphics processor (IGP) will eventually go away, as integrated GPUs move off of the chipset and onto the processor die. IGPs are a huge and very successful part of NVIDIA's volume business, and the company can't afford to see that segment left solely to Intel at a future date when all mobile x86 processors come with an on-board GPU.
