Site icon Global News HQ

Nvidia’s desktop PC chip holdup purportedly tied to Windows delays — ongoing chip revisions and weakening demand also blamed

Nvidia’s desktop PC chip holdup purportedly tied to Windows delays — ongoing chip revisions and weakening demand also blamed



MediaTek and Nvidia have reportedly pushed back the launch of their much-anticipated N1X AI PC platform to the first quarter of 2026, according to a new DigiTimes report citing supply chain sources. The latest reasons given contrast with an earlier report, which still informed us of the delay, but attributed it to critical hardware defects requiring a silicon respin. While chip revisions at Nvidia are still part of this latest story, the new information points toward a broader set of factors, including Microsoft’s slower-than-expected OS roadmap and weakening demand across the notebook market.

The N1X platform, originally believed to be scheduled for Q3 2025 with both consumer and commercial models, never materialized at Computex earlier this year, fueling speculation about its readiness. DigiTimes now reports that MediaTek and Nvidia are prioritizing enterprise-class systems for the initial rollout, banking on stronger commercial adoption before expanding into the volatile consumer segment.

The N1X processor has previously been tipped to deliver 180–200 TOPS of AI compute performance and would mark MediaTek’s most ambitious entry into the PC space, backed by Nvidia’s AI expertise. Major OEMs and ODMs, including Dell, HP, Lenovo, Asus, MSI, and Compal, are reportedly preparing notebook and desktop designs for the platform. This is another area where Intel underestimated the competition way back, and now Nvidia appears to be gunning for this territory, rivaling not only Intel and AMD but also Qualcomm.

Moreover, DigiTimes’ report also offers a glimpse into Nvidia and MediaTek’s expanding collaboration. Beyond PCs, the two companies are said to be advancing joint efforts in automotive AI via MediaTek’s Dimensity Auto platform, as well as edge AI development with Nvidia’s TAO toolkit and MediaTek’s NeuroPilot SDK. Digitimes says the companies have also co-developed the DGX Spark personal AI supercomputer and are key partners in Nvidia’s NVLink Fusion ecosystem for custom AI silicon.

Interestingly, DigiTimes mentions MediaTek’s involvement in Google’s v7e AI project, now reportedly delayed to mass production in October 2026. This long-term partnership could bring significant revenue—estimated at $4 billion—and signals that MediaTek is building a stronger presence in the AI silicon market, both at the edge and in data centers. For those unaware, v7e is a next-generation TPU (Tensor Processing Unit) Google is co-developing with MediaTek, designed for large-scale AI workloads in Google’s data centers.

Anyhow, the new reported Q1 2026 timeline for N1X could suggest that Nvidia and MediaTek are refining both hardware and strategy. While SemiAccurate’s earlier claims of hardware defects may still hold some truth, the new report paints a picture of a more calculated delay, aligning with Microsoft’s OS updates, fixing remaining chip-level issues, and waiting for commercial demand to stabilize. In the meantime, Nvidia’s GB10-based AI workstations, which are still on track for release, may serve as the company’s first real-world testbed for consumer-facing AI PC hardware before N1X arrives.

Follow Tom’s Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.

story, the new information points toward a broader set of factors, including Microsoft’s slower-than-expected OS roadmap and weakening demand across the notebook market.

The N1X platform, originally believed to be scheduled for Q3 2025 with both consumer and commercial models, never materialized at Computex earlier this year, fueling speculation about its readiness. DigiTimes now reports that MediaTek and Nvidia are prioritizing enterprise-class systems for the initial rollout, banking on stronger commercial adoption before expanding into the volatile consumer segment.

The N1X processor has previously been tipped to deliver 180–200 TOPS of AI compute performance and would mark MediaTek’s most ambitious entry into the PC space, backed by Nvidia’s AI expertise. Major OEMs and ODMs, including Dell, HP, Lenovo, Asus, MSI, and Compal, are reportedly preparing notebook and desktop designs for the platform. This is another area where Intel underestimated the competition way back, and now Nvidia appears to be gunning for this territory, rivaling not only Intel and AMD but also Qualcomm.

Moreover, DigiTimes’ report also offers a glimpse into Nvidia and MediaTek’s expanding collaboration. Beyond PCs, the two companies are said to be advancing joint efforts in automotive AI via MediaTek’s Dimensity Auto platform, as well as edge AI development with Nvidia’s TAO toolkit and MediaTek’s NeuroPilot SDK. Digitimes says the companies have also co-developed the DGX Spark personal AI supercomputer and are key partners in Nvidia’s NVLink Fusion ecosystem for custom AI silicon.

Interestingly, DigiTimes mentions MediaTek’s involvement in Google’s v7e AI project, now reportedly delayed to mass production in October 2026. This long-term partnership could bring significant revenue—estimated at $4 billion—and signals that MediaTek is building a stronger presence in the AI silicon market, both at the edge and in data centers. For those unaware, v7e is a next-generation TPU (Tensor Processing Unit) Google is co-developing with MediaTek, designed for large-scale AI workloads in Google’s data centers.

Anyhow, the new reported Q1 2026 timeline for N1X could suggest that Nvidia and MediaTek are refining both hardware and strategy. While SemiAccurate’s earlier claims of hardware defects may still hold some truth, the new report paints a picture of a more calculated delay, aligning with Microsoft’s OS updates, fixing remaining chip-level issues, and waiting for commercial demand to stabilize. In the meantime, Nvidia’s GB10-based AI workstations, which are still on track for release, may serve as the company’s first real-world testbed for consumer-facing AI PC hardware before N1X arrives.

Follow Tom’s Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.



Source link

Exit mobile version