[The Exiled]

Intel’s next-gen Battlemage GPUs delayed to mid-2024, higher-end graphics cards canceled. Unfortunately, Battlemage is plagued by technical issues, forcing Intel to push the launch to mid or late 2024. nVidia has allegedly decided to strongarm board partners from working with Intel on its next-gen ARC Battlemage graphics cards. nVidia has threatened AIBs with a limited supply of RTX GPUs if they decide to partner with Intel on its upcoming ARC GPUs. The repercussions of the partnership could extend to a potential ban, although that’s quite unlikely.

Normally, rumors of this kind would be easily discarded, but nVidia has built a reputation for engaging in borderline anti-competitive activities, the most notable being the GeForce Partner Program (GPP). Board partners were forced to use separate product branding for Radeon graphics cards, leaving the flagship/holo for nVidia’s top-end offerings. Notable examples include the ASUS ROG Strix, MSI Suprim X, and Gigabyte’s Aorus Extreme. What’s ironic about this situation is that Intel has been using similar tactics against AMD in the notebook OEM/ODM space. Many gaming notebooks are still limited to Intel CPUs, even if they are simple refreshes of preceding lineups.