October 20, 2026: Nvidia’s push into the CPU market is beginning to show results, with AI infrastructure startup Modal preparing to adopt its Vera processors after relying exclusively on Intel and AMD. The move points to a growing shift in how AI companies choose computing hardware, as they look beyond raw processing power to how much work their systems can complete for every dollar spent.
Modal, which rents computing capacity to AI developers, plans to use Nvidia’s Vera central processing units to run AI agents , systems designed to carry out tasks over extended periods with limited human intervention. The company said early tests showed the Nvidia chips enabled agents to complete twice as much work as the Intel and AMD processors it currently uses.
The decision is significant for Nvidia as it expands beyond graphics processing units, the chips that helped establish its dominance in AI computing. CPUs remain a market long led by Intel and AMD, but the growing complexity of AI workloads is opening the door to new competition.
Nvidia gains ground as AI startup Modal turns to its new Vera CPUs
For Modal, the attraction appears to be practical rather than ideological. The company said adopting Vera will require substantial software changes, but it does not intend to drop its existing suppliers. Instead, it plans to run Nvidia processors alongside Intel and AMD chips, assigning workloads to whichever hardware delivers the best performance.
That approach also leaves room for the competition to respond. Modal chief executive Erik Bernhardsson said the tests compared Vera with processors already available from Intel and AMD, and that newer models from both companies would be evaluated once they arrive.
The timing gives Nvidia an opportunity to establish itself in a market that could become increasingly important as AI agents gain wider use. Unlike conventional chatbots, these systems can perform sequences of actions, making computing efficiency a critical factor in their operating costs.
Nvidia has told investors it expects at least $20 billion in revenue from Vera chip sales in the current fiscal year, targeting a CPU market it estimates at roughly $200 billion. OpenAI, Anthropic and Oracle are among the other companies expected to use the processors.
Modal’s adoption does not signal a decisive victory for Nvidia over Intel and AMD. It does, however, offer an early indication that customers may be willing to rethink established hardware choices when performance gains justify the cost and effort of switching.
For Nvidia, the larger test will be whether those early gains hold up across different workloads , and whether customers continue to see enough value to make room for another supplier in a market dominated by two long-standing rivals.
