Word reached us a bit ago that Nvidia is definitely working on an x86 chip and the firm is heavily recruiting x86 engineers all over Silicon Valley.
The history behind this is here and here, and can be summarised by saying they bought an x86 team almost fully, and don't have a licence to make the parts. Given that the firm burned about every bridge imaginable with the two companies who can give them licences, Nvidia has about a zero chance of getting one.
There are options to take, like fabbing at IBM, but that won't stop the lawyers. Claiming you are getting around the issue with a Transmeta-like approach will likely end up in a long lawsuit as well. Basically what it comes down to is that Nvidia is trying to get into the x86 business, and doesn't seem to care much about 'laws' and 'legality' when doing so.
More humorous is how they are going to try and spin the whole "CPUs don't matter at all" screed that they have been on lately. "They don't matter, and x86 really doesn't matter, but we are going to do it anyway just because it doesn't matter" or something.
Trying to chart a path of logic through their proclamations violates all the laws of thermodynamics, several laws of physics, probably several US laws, and makes the underpant gnomes scratch their heads. Bravo guys, it will be fun to watch.
That said, Nvidia may not be officially hiring, but we are guessing there will be a whole lot of jobs at Intel legal opening up Monday morning. Look for them here.