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Nvidia CEO says company has plans for desktop chip designed with MediaTek

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced a collaboration with MediaTek to create a new energy-efficient desktop CPU, unveiled as part of the $3,000 Project DIGITS computer at CES 2025.

NVIDIA GTC 2024Jensen Huang at NVIDIA GTC 2024 (Image credit: NVIDIA)

Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang said on Tuesday that MediaTek will be able to sell the desktop central processor chip the two companies unveiled this week and that Nvidia has undisclosed plans for the chip.

On Monday at CES 2025, Nvidia unveiled a desktop computer called Project DIGITS. The machine uses Nvidia’s latest “Blackwell” AI chip and will cost $3,000. It contains a new central processor, or CPU, which Nvidia and MediaTek worked to create.

Responding to an analyst’s question during an investor presentation, Huang said Nvidia tapped MediaTek to co-design an energy-efficient CPU that could be sold more widely.

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“Now they could provide that to us, and they could keep that for themselves and serve the market. And so it was a great win-win,” Huang said.

Previously, Reuters reported that Nvidia was working on a CPU for personal computers to challenge the consumer and business computer market dominance of Intel, Advanced Micro Devices and Qualcomm.

The Project DIGITS computer is not yet a mass-market device. It runs a Linux-based operating system from Nvidia that is used by AI developers, and Huang told analysts those developers are Nvidia’s target market with Project DIGITS.

But Huang said Nvidia has further plans for its desktop CPU but said he would “wait to tell you” what they are. “You know, obviously we have plans.”

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Later in the question session, Huang said Nvidia believes it can bridge the gap between the Linux operating system that most AI developers use and Microsoft’s Windows, which is widely used by consumers, by using a Microsoft technology called Windows Subsystem for Linux that allows a single computer to use both systems.

“We’re going to make that a mainstream product,” Huang said. “We’ll support it with all the things that we do to support professional and high-quality software, and the PC (manufacturers) will make it available to end users.”

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