What if we were witnessing, after 40 years of domination, the end of the hegemony of the x86 architecture? AMD and Intel processors have shaped the PC market for decades, and have been threatened in recent years, in particular because of the arrival of ARM chips, originally dedicated only to smartphones. But with Qualcomm now capable of offering processors for PCs, Apple which also uses ARM chips… The market is gradually starting to reshape itself, and the near monopoly of the x86 architecture on PCs has never been so threatened .
The end of a decades-long rivalry
So Intel and AMD, eternal rivals, decided to put aside their differences and their usual competition to join forces in an “advisory committee” about the x86 ecosystem. Note also that this committee also includes the boss of Epic, Tim Sweeney, but also Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernel. Microsoft, Dell, Meta, Lenovo, Broadcom, Oracle, HP, Google and Red Hat also have a place in this grouping at the top.
Advertising, your content continues below
But then, what will be the goal of this committee? The objective will actually be to expand the x86 architecture a little further in the face of competition.by driving compatibility across platforms, simplifying software development, and providing developers with a platform to identify the architectural requirements and features needed to create innovative solutions“. Behind this word salad lies in reality a desire to improve the compatibility but also the consistency of x86 offers in order to “ensuring that x86 architecture continues to evolve as the computing platform of choice for developers and customers” according to Lisa Su, current CEO of AMD.
