At the Cisco AI Summit on Tuesday, CEO Lip-Bu Tan revealed that Intel has initiated a strategic push into the graphics processing unit (GPU) segment, a market long dominated by Nvidia. This move complements Intel’s core CPU business by targeting high-growth applications in gaming and AI model training. Tan emphasized that the effort remains in its formative phase, with product roadmaps to be shaped by direct feedback from enterprise and cloud customers seeking specialized compute solutions beyond traditional CPUs.

To spearhead the new GPU program, Intel has appointed Kevork Kechichian, executive vice president and general manager of its Data Center Group, as project overseer. Kechichian, recruited in September as part of a broader engineering leadership overhaul, will work alongside Eric Demmers, who joined Intel in January after a 13-year tenure at Qualcomm. Demmers held the role of senior vice president of engineering at Qualcomm, bringing extensive experience in high-performance chip design to Intel’s GPU development team.

Intel’s GPU ambitions come at a time when the company’s foundry division is still seeking an anchor external customer to validate its manufacturing roadmap. Despite a year-long rally in investor sentiment around its foundry capabilities, recent production snags and supply constraints have raised questions about Intel’s ability to scale advanced-node processes. While the company has secured multi-billion-dollar investments from the U.S. government and strategic partners, clarity on capacity commitments and third-party design wins will be critical for investors tracking Intel’s transition from integrated device manufacturer to a major player in both custom GPU and foundry services.