If you were hoping that Nvidia and Intel’s high-profile partnership would usher in a golden age of affordable, high-powered gaming hardware, you might want to lower your expectations. Speaking at CES 2026, technology industry analyst Dr. Ian Cutless (TechTechPotato) made a bombshell in an interview with PC World’s The Full Nerd, painting a grim picture for PC enthusiasts. Cutless said the partnership is focused on dominating the lucrative AI server market, leaving the consumer gaming space vulnerable to a market downturn expected in 2026. In reality, this partnership is designed to solve a business problem, not a consumer problem.
The driving force behind this combination is not an increase in GTA VI’s frame rate. It’s a data center customer-specific requirement. Nvidia is pushing its own ARM-based “Grace” CPUs, but hyperscalers and major companies have made it clear that they prefer the familiarity of the x86 architecture. “Customers are looking for x86 solutions,” Cutress explained. “Historically, their software database has been x86. We have more developers trained on x86 and feel that x86 is a more mature ecosystem for high-end enterprise software development.”
This preference forced Nvidia to change direction and combine its powerful GPUs with Intel’s x86 CPUs to gain dominance in the server stack. While this gives Intel a lifeline through the new NVLink, it essentially sidelines the ARM ecosystem that Nvidia has spent years building. Perhaps most worrying for gamers are the predictions for the rest of 2026. Cutless warned that the PC market is bracing for a “mid to high single digit” decline. This isn’t just a lack of interest. It is caused by a catastrophic shortage of parts.
