The "Wintel Alliance" Is a Thing of the Past... The "PC Ecosystem" That Relied Solely on Intel Is Changing

Apple, Qualcomm, and AMD Followed by Nvidia Developing Own Chips
Global CPU Battle
Increase in ARM-Based CPUs... Accelerated Intel Departure

Semiconductor companies are consecutively entering the PC CPU (Central Processing Unit) market, which has long been dominated by Intel. While AMD has been considered Intel's sole competitor, the entry of Qualcomm, Nvidia, and others into the PC market is expected to ignite a 'CPU showdown.'

On the 1st, the semiconductor industry is focusing on news of Nvidia's development of a PC CPU. Nvidia is developing a CPU based on the UK-based ARM architecture, aiming for a 2025 release. Since 99% of smartphones worldwide use ARM-based APs (Application Processors), the goal is to create PC chips compatible with smartphone functions to halt Intel's dominance.

Intel. [Photo by Asia Economy DB]

Intel is in a state of emergency. Intel has maintained its position as the 'PC CPU champion' based on its proprietary 'x86 architecture,' but it can no longer avoid damage as more companies independent from Intel are developing system-on-chips (SoCs) based on ARM designs.

In fact, the Intel kingdom began to shake as cracks appeared in the so-called 'Wintel alliance,' the strongest technological alliance in the global industry with Microsoft (MS). Since IBM established the standard for 16-bit computer technology in the early 1980s, Intel has led hardware technologies such as CPUs, while MS has led software technology standards represented by Windows, forming a close division of labor. In this process, each company released products optimized for the other's technology, dominating over 90% of the global CPU and operating system markets. The 'Intel Inside' logo on Windows PCs symbolizes this alliance.

However, the emergence of smartphones caused cracks in the Wintel alliance. Intel's CPU technology consumed too much power, making it unsuitable for smartphones reliant on small batteries. As the performance of ARM-based CPUs used in smartphones greatly improved, the Wintel alliance took a critical hit. With the spread of 5G (5th generation mobile communication) and the increase in data due to the expansion of non-face-to-face services amid the COVID-19 pandemic, even data centers and cloud companies began to turn their attention to ARM-based CPUs, which offer similar performance with lower power consumption.

Apple, which had used Intel chips in its Mac and MacBook series, accelerated its departure from Intel by equipping its own ARM-based 'M1' and 'M2' chips in 2020 and last year, respectively. AMD, after successfully developing its own CPUs such as Ryzen, is preparing to launch ARM-based CPU products in 2025. Qualcomm, which released an ARM-based laptop CPU in 2016, accelerated its own development after acquiring semiconductor design company Nuvia in 2021 and unveiled the Snapdragon X Elite. This includes Qualcomm's 'Orion' CPU released last year.

Counterpoint Research projected that as of April, the market share of ARM-based CPUs was about 14%, but it is expected to increase to 25% by 2027. While Intel's CPUs are close to off-the-shelf products, ARM's strength lies in its customizable use by each company and its high performance with low power consumption.

The global PC ecosystem is increasingly likely to undergo significant changes. Market research firm Statista reported that Intel's share of the global CPU market was 82.5% in the third quarter of 2016 but has been declining, reaching 62.7% in the third quarter of this year. AMD, in second place with 35%, has surpassed half of Intel's market share.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.