Intel and AMD will work together in the x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group. This group must stimulate innovation in the x86 ecosystem and strengthen the architecture against the rise of competitor ARM.

A surprise on stage at Lenovo Tech World in Bellevue, Washington: Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger appears on stage with words of praise for main competitor Lisa Su, CEO of AMD. “This is the first time Lisa and I have agreed on something,” he laughs, referring to the x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group.

This group brings together x86 leaders to drive innovation around architecture. Members include Broadcom, Dell, Google, HP, Microsoft, Oracle, Red Het and of course Lenovo.

Important partners

“You heard it earlier from one of our important partners, Intel,” Su joked a few minutes later on the same stage. “AMD and Intel are bringing together all the major x86 players to accelerate the pace of innovation. This illustrates what a unique era we are experiencing today.”

Su mainly refers to the impact of AI. “We are still in the early stages of AI, but the speed of innovation is unprecedented. “More progress has been made in the last two years than in the previous ten years,” she notes. x86 is one of the foundations of this innovation, and the new x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group must support this.

Printed by ARM

Gelsinger is a bit more transparent about what is likely the real motivation behind the group. “My rumors are greatly exaggerated,” says Gelsinger, pointing to the rise of the ARM architecture. He also points out that x86 is the foundation of decades of innovation.

However, ARM is on the verge of a breakthrough, both in the server world and now also in the laptop segment. Starting this year, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chips power excellent laptops with fantastic battery life. ARM has some strong advantages over x86. This brings Intel and AMD together: They are the only two companies that (are allowed) to develop x86 chips and therefore have a vested interest in demonstrating the relevance of the architecture for the future.

Focus on x86

Specifically, the x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group wants to support three things. Literally:

• It increases customer choice and compatibility in hardware and software while allowing them to take advantage of new, advanced features more quickly.
• Simplifying architectural guidelines to improve software consistency and standardize interfaces between Intel and AMD x86 products.
• Enable ever more efficient integration of new features into operating systems, frameworks and applications.

“x86 will go through a period of expansion and adaptability,” says Gelsinger. The stakeholders for the x86 architecture seem to be closed.

That’s good news: it’s not to anyone’s advantage that one architecture or another wins. Ideally, they coexist and stimulate each other’s innovation. The x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group, in which Intel and AMD join forces as historical partners, is the first visible result of the new competition.