While the definition of "metaverse" is broad, it
generally refers to immersive virtual worlds that will be accessed via the
internet and a variety of devices, like virtual reality headsets.
The trend is expected to require vastly more computing
power, and firms like Nvidia, which makes chips and software used to construct
the virtual world, and Qualcomm, which makes chips used in virtual reality
headsets, have both gained value in recent months on investor enthusiasm about
the metaverse.
At a news conference after a presentation at the RealTime
Conference on metaverse technologies on Monday, Raja Koduri, head of Intel's
accelerated computing systems and graphics group, said the company's first
technology push into the metaverse will be software that helps devices take
advantage of computing power that already exists and is unused.
For example, if a gamer is playing a graphics-heavy title on
a laptop that would tax the system's chips but has an unused gaming PC in
another room, the software could detect the spare power sitting idle on the PC
and tap into it over a home network to make the laptop game run better.
Koduri said the software will work with chips from
competitors. The software is designed to solve technical challenges for users,
and not just to generate major revenue for Intel. Some of it will be shared,
Koduri said.
"The way we are architecting all the layers is that it
is going to work with everybody's hardware, as long as they are on
industry-standard specifications," Koduri told reporters. "There'll
be a lot of open sourcing involved with everything that we build", he
added.