Nvidia almost produced an x86 CPU to rival AMD and Intel, but was forced to move to Arm due to 'certain legal issues'

Nvidia’s Project Denver began as x86 but transitioned to Arm
Insider reports legal constraints drove 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 server processor efforts.

According to HPCwire, Ditzel, who was previously CEO of Transmeta, revealed that Nvidia’s first server CPU, Project Denver, initially started as an x86 CPU but transitioned to Arm due to legal constraints.

Ditzel says Nvidia’s shift to Arm was influenced by its licensing of Transmeta’s Tokamak technology, which could translate x86 code into a RISC instruction set.

Failed attempt to acquire Arm

IAs he explained, “Nvidia brought out a product called Denver. It was actually that same design. It originally started as an x86 [CPU], but through certain legal issues, had to turn itself into an Arm CPU.”

This decision, he said, laid the foundation for Nvidia’s alignment with Arm architecture. Tokamak, developed by Transmeta, was intended to be its third-generation x86 chip following 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, did not announce a product based on it either. “You can guess as to all the reasons why or buy me a beer sometime,” Ditzel said.

Nvidia officially introduced Project Denver as an Arm-based CPU in 2011, later integrating it into its Tegra lineup. HPCwire 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 regulatory opposition.

Ditzel founded chip design firm Esperanto about seven years ago and because of his previous bad experiences with licensing x86, he opted for RISC-V because it was cheap and there were no legal concerns to get bogged down by.

“At least we have a playground where we can test some new things out, and some lawyer is not going to be ringing your bell,” Ditzel said.