Nvidia almost produced an x86 CPU to rival AMD and Intel, but was forced to switch to Arm due to ‘certain legal issues’
- Nvidia’s Project Denver started as x86 but transitioned to Arm
- Insider reports that legal restrictions determined Nvidia’s pivot
- The Arm-based Project Denver CPU debuted in 2011
During a technical session at the recent SC24 event, Dave Ditzel, founder of Esperanto Technologies, offered some fascinating insights into Nvidia’s early efforts in server processors.
According to HPC wireDitzel, formerly CEO of Transmeta, revealed that Nvidia’s first server CPU, Project Deventerinitially started as an x86 CPU, but switched to Arm due to legal restrictions.
Ditzel says Nvidia’s move to Arm was influenced by the licensing of Transmeta’s Tokamak technology, which could translate x86 code into a RISC instruction set.
Failed attempt to acquire Arm
As he explained: “Nvidia released a product called Denver. It was basically the same design. It originally started out as an x86 (CPU), but due to some legal issues had to change itself to an Arm CPU.”
This decision, he said, laid the groundwork for Nvidia’s connection to the Arm architecture. Developed by Transmeta, Tokamak was intended as the third generation x86 chip, after the Crusoe and Efficeon processors. However, the project was never officially launched and was instead licensed to companies like Intel and Nvidia.
ntel, despite acquiring the design, has also not announced a product based on it. “You can guess all the reasons why, or buy me a beer,” Ditzel said.
Nvidia officially introduced Project Denver as an Arm-based CPU in 2011 and later integrated it into its Tegra series. HPC wire reports that while there was initial enthusiasm around Arm servers, adoption was limited by challenges in the software ecosystem. Nvidia has since developed its Grace CPU and abandoned its attempt to acquire Arm after opposition from regulators.
Ditzel founded the chip design firm Esperanto about seven years ago, and because of his previous bad experiences with x86 licensing, he chose RISC-V because it was cheap and there were no legal issues to get himself into.
“At least we have a playground where we can test some new things, and a lawyer isn’t going to knock on your door,” Ditzel said.