AMD and Intel go from their worst enemies to best friends to upgrade x86 and stave off the Arm scare

AMD and Intel, Team Red and Team Blue were constant enemies trying to stay ahead in the x86 space Weapons race. However, there is another arm in the mix that is fundamentally different from the two and threatens the existence of both AMD and Intel.

The ARM architecture is far more efficient, which is why it has long been the basis for mobile phone chipsets. And while about a decade ago Intel’s x86 chips were the dominant force in the desktop and server space, that’s quickly changing. First it was Apple that ditched Intel in favor of its in-house M-series silicon, and now Microsoft has also started offering several Arm-based Qualcomm Copilot+ PCs that have neither AMD nor Intel.

The threat is very real and it looks like AMD and Intel are finally acknowledging their common enemy. Today, the companies announced the new x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group, created to improve x86 and AMD64 (the 64-bit version of x86 that AMD licenses to Intel) and the entire software and hardware ecosystem that depends on them.

In the press release, AMD and Intel laid out the key highlights as well as the purpose behind the group’s creation. It says:

The advisory group’s goal is to bring together industry leaders to shape the future of x86 and encourage developer innovation through more consistent instructions and architectural interfaces. This initiative will improve compatibility, predictability and consistency across x86 product offerings.

To achieve this, the group will seek technical input from the x86 hardware and software community on key functions and features.

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Targeted outcomes include:

• Improve customers’ choice and compatibility between hardware and software while accelerating their ability to benefit from new, cutting-edge features.
• Simplifying architectural guidelines to improve software consistency and interfaces across Intel and AMD x86 product offerings.
• Enables more comprehensive and efficient integration of new features into operating systems, frameworks and applications.

Microsoft happens to be one of the founding members of the group. There are also Broadcom, Dell, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HP Inc., Lenovo, Meta, Oracle and Red Hat, and the luminaries include Linus Torvalds and Tim Sweeney.