Chip rivals unite

Intel and AMD cooperate in the battle for the PC market

The chip technology of the two top dogs Intel and AMD is coming under increasing pressure - which is why the two rivals now want to cooperate in order to defend it. An industry group has been brought together to help steer the further development of the X86 chip architecture.

The vast majority of Windows PCs in the world run on X86 processors. Intel grew up with it - and later AMD too. However, for some years now, a change has been emerging that could weaken the position of Intel and AMD in the PC market. The X86 architecture was never really able to gain a foothold in smartphones and tablets. Instead, chips based on technology from the British chip designer Arm prevailed. One of the decisive factors was that the Arm architecture consumes significantly less power.

In recent years, it has become clear that processors based on the Arm design are also on their way into the PC market. First, Apple replaced Intel processors in all its Mac computers with chip systems developed in-house, but most recently the chip company Qualcomm also stepped up its efforts to enter the Windows PC business with chips based on Arm architecture. Losses in the PC business would be particularly painful for the Intel Group, which is struggling with losses.

The new industry group now wants to ensure that the X86 platform becomes more attractive. Among other things, technology and software from different providers should work better together, as the founding members announced on Tuesday. Among the members are the three largest PC manufacturers Lenovo, HP and Dell as well as Windows developer Microsoft, Google and the chip company Broadcom.