Computex

Computex: Nvidia against AMD, Intel and Qualcomm

The most important hardware trade fair of the year starts next week in Taipei. There's a lot going on this time [--] even in advance.

Many new processors are coming to Computex 2024. Incidentally, we can't say ourselves which chips can be seen on the local wafer. There are plenty of exposed wafers of unknown origin like this one for sale on Aliexpress.

(Image: c't)

Jun 1, 2024 at 8:20 am CEST

4 min. read

By

Mark Mantel

This article was originally published in German and has been automatically translated.

The hardware world is in turmoil: manufacturers of the latest processors are coming together at the Computex IT trade fair, which begins on Tuesday in the Taiwanese capital Taipei. And who would have thought it a few years ago? Intel could have the shortest straw this time.

Intel is expected to present its next notebook processor family, Lunar Lake aka Core Ultra 200. It is intended in particular for slim devices and will feature new CPU cores with a significantly faster AI unit than in the previous Meteor Lake processors.

Qualcomm versus AMD versus Intel

Even before Computex, however, everything revolved around the ARM processors Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus from Qualcomm. Windows on ARM seems to be Microsoft's new favorite – and the opponent is clear: Apple. When announcing the new "AI PCs" aka "Copilot+ PCs", Microsoft presented selected benchmarks showing the Snapdragon X Elite ahead of the Apple M3.

This time, the notebook manufacturers are also playing along. All major companies have already announced Snapdragon X devices, which can be seen for the first time at Computex.

ARM is also coming up trumps: The powerful processing cores in Apple M3 and Qualcomm Snapdragon X are ARM-compatible, but each is proprietary – other ARM customers such as Samsung or the Taiwanese "hidden champion" Mediatek cannot license them. This is why ARM launched the supposedly super powerful Cortex-X925 "Blackhawk" a few days before Computex. It was previously expected to be the Cortex-X5.

This also takes the wind out of the sails of Intel competitor AMD, which is expected to show the Strix Point, aka Ryzen AI 300, notebook processor family. With their x86 CPUs, AMD and Intel seem like dinosaurs of the processor world, although AMD is expected to come up with many advances: first and foremost the new Zen 5 cores, which promise a significant leap in performance.

The only area in which AMD is unlikely to be outdone is in desktop PCs. Rumors from the Far East expect the market launch of the Ryzen 9000 –, also with Zen 5 cores, as early as July. The announcement is therefore likely to take place at Computex: AMD boss Lisa Su, herself born in Taiwan like Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, will hold her keynote on Monday.

Intel's rival Arrow Lake CPUs will not be available until the end of the year. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger will also be speaking at Computex, but only after Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon.

Nvidia bursts into the parade

However, Nvidia could give the biggest finger. Although AMD boss Lisa Su is opening Computex on Monday, the famous Nvidia CEO in Taiwan has cheated his way in with an unofficial presentation on Sunday.

Nvidia keynotes at Computex, which focuses more on devices for end customers, are atypical because the company traditionally announces its products at its own events. However, Nvidia's ARM processors for notebooks have been under discussion for weeks and are expected to outperform Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite.

Computex would be the perfect opportunity to show off the assembled competition with an initial announcement. What is certain is that it will be about AI – Nvidia's cash cow.