Chip stocks shakeup: Arm soars, Intel falls as Nvidia and Microsoft announce new AI superchip for Windows PCs

Here’s what you need to know. Nvidia announces RTX Spark superchip and N1X processor Nvidia has never been a stranger to the personal computer market, despite now being best known as the maker of chips that power AI servers. Its enterprise AI chips and associated products are what have driven Nvidia to become the most valuable publicly traded company ever in the last several years. But before the AI boom, a large majority of Nvidia’s business came from making graphic processing units (GPUs) for personal computers, especially PCs designed for gaming, which required processors that could render advanced graphics. Today, Huang announced that, in addition to its enterprise AI business, Nvidia will launch a new AI chip for personal computers, designed for Windows laptops and desktops. The chip is called the “RTX Spark” superchip. It’s a “superchip” because it is composed of a new AI-focused N1X processor, designed by both Nvidia and Microsoft, and a Nvidia Blackwell graphics processing unit. The chip is based on Arm Holdings’ architecture instead of the x86 architecture found in traditional Intel PC chips. In consumer devices, Arm’s architecture is generally superior for running AI tasks on-device compared to x86-based chips. As a result, devices such as laptops and smartphones with Arm-based chips should be better able to perform AI tasks locally rather than relying on cloud-based AI processing. The new RTX Spark chip will be made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). As noted by CNBC, announcing the new chip at Taiwan’s Computex conference on Monday, Huang said that “Microsoft and Nvidia are going to reinvent the PC. This is the first completely re-engineered, reinvented line of PCs that has happened in 40 years.” ARM shares surge, while Intel and AMD drop