Nvidia unveiled its first AI PC processor, the RTX Spark, on June 1 at Computex 2026 in Taipei. CEO Jensen Huang said the chip, developed with Microsoft, will ship this fall in notebooks and desktops from major manufacturers including Dell and Lenovo. The announcement immediately moved semiconductor, gaming, and retail stocks, and signals a longer-term reshaping of the PC processor and memory markets.

The RTX Spark combines the N1 X — a 20-core Arm-based CPU co-designed with MediaTek — with a Blackwell RTX GPU and 128 GB of unified memory. Nvidia claims one petaflop of AI processing power, enough for laptops to run large language models with up to 120 billion parameters entirely on-device, with no cloud connection.

A Different Kind of Entry

Nvidia's arrival in the PC CPU market is expected to differ from Qualcomm's earlier push into Windows on Arm with its Snapdragon X series, where smartphone-derived chips had limited impact. Nvidia already controls the AI and graphics processing ecosystem.

"For the last 40 years, it's been an era of clicking apps and typing," Huang said during the keynote. "Now, it's an era where you ask the PC, and the PC does the work." He framed the product around the concept of the AI agent PC. Adobe has reportedly rebuilt the core rendering engines for Photoshop and Premiere Pro to optimize for the chip, delivering up to twice the performance.

The market reaction was immediate. In U.S. pre-market trading on June 1, Intel fell roughly 6%, AMD dropped nearly 4%, and Qualcomm tumbled 7%. Microsoft rose 3.1%, and Nvidia gained 2.2%.

Samsung and SK Hynix Benefit

The announcement also acted as a catalyst for South Korean memory makers. The RTX Spark uses a 'SoCaM' (System on Chip Advanced Module) approach, already proven in data center GPUs, that bundles multiple low-power DRAM chips into a server-like module. LPDDR5X, the leading low-power memory standard, is a core component.

According to industry sources, the RTX Spark packs eight 9.6Gbps LPDDR5X memory chips from Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, totaling 128 GB. Both companies have long collaborated with Nvidia primarily on high-bandwidth memory; the AI PC expansion now strengthens their supply chain ties in low-power memory as well.

That optimism showed in South Korea's pre-market trading on Nextrade on June 2. As of 8:29 a.m., Samsung Electronics was up 25,000 won (approximately $16.47), or 7.16%, at 374,000 won (approximately $246.43), after touching 377,000 won. SK Hynix rose 25,000 won, or 1.06%, to 2,388,000 won (approximately $1,573.47), having reached as high as 2,441,000 won.

As AI demand shifts from data centers toward on-device AI in PCs and smartphones, low-power memory that addresses power consumption and heat is becoming critical. Counterpoint Research reports global DRAM revenue surged 260% year-over-year to $97 billion in the first quarter, driven largely by HBM alongside expanded adoption of low-power memory such as LPDDR5.

Korean Market Ripples

Nvidia's AI PC push moved a broad range of South Korean stocks. Nintendo rose for a third consecutive session. Memory price spikes driven by AI data center demand had raised concerns about rising game console manufacturing costs, but expectations that the new product will diversify memory demand and ease price surges triggered buying. Sony Group also gained.

Matsuya rebounded sharply after reporting that May sales at its Ginza flagship store rose 18.2% year-over-year, with duty-free sales to customers from Taiwan, Thailand, and Western countries up roughly 15%.

Rohm continued to slide despite announcing it had become the world's first to apply quantum annealing technology to semiconductor front-end manufacturing, improving production efficiency by about 3%.

Robotics stocks also surged. At a 'Korea Partner Night' event in Taiwan on the same day, Huang mentioned the importance of South Korea's robotics industry and hinted at potential investments. The comments sent shares of Robostar, Doosan Robotics, and LG Electronics up more than 20% in pre-market trading.

Architectural Shift

Microsoft spent three years co-developing and optimizing a Windows emulation engine with Nvidia. Popular games including League of Legends, Valorant, and PUBG have committed to officially supporting Arm-based Windows with dedicated security software, rapidly dismantling software ecosystem barriers.

Eight flagship models are set to launch starting this fall with Microsoft's Surface Laptop Ultra, including the Dell XPS 16, Asus ProArt, HP OmniBook, Lenovo Yoga, and MSI Prestige. More than 30 notebook models and over 10 desktop designs from Acer, Gigabyte, and others are confirmed. These products target the ultra-premium market and are expected to lift the average selling price of Windows PCs.

Intel and AMD, which have dominated the PC CPU market with x86 architecture for roughly four decades, now face an urgent battle to defend share. Qualcomm must contend with Nvidia as a new competitor in the AI PC space. With Nvidia forcing open the door to the PC market, the global semiconductor and IT hardware industry is set for rapid reconfiguration.