There is a story over at The Inquirer that is speculating once again that EVGA will find its way into the arms of Intel when the Larrabee product is released late in 2009 or early in 2010. 

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Intel Larrabee architecture

This isn’t the first time we have heard this rumor, and thus, we are beginning to actually believe it.  We heard from the very beginning of Larrabee’s product life that Intel would use partners to distribute their new graphics offering rather than direct sales to the consumer.  The saucy part about this rumor is that EVGA is really the biggest US-based NVIDIA partner that was NVIDIA-only.  We have seen companies like ASUS, Gigabyte and even XFX move away from dedicated NVIDIA GPU sales to incorporating ATI Radeon graphics into their lineup.  EVGA is/was one of the last hold outs.

Rumors also persist that NVIDIA tends to spurn those partners that “defect” to other parties – but whether or not NVIDIA will be able to continue doing that with thinning ranks of troops is doubtful.  You can’t really push EVERYONE away, right?
EXPECTATION DICTATES that Intel’s long-awaited Larrabee offerings will follow the same production model pioneered by rival Nvidia at the start of the decade. But what the Green Goblin might not have counted on is that its most loyal partner would be leading the charge to bring Chipzilla’s products to market.

By all accounts, EVGA is currently Nvidia’s number one partner, having shown 100 per cent loyalty to Jen Hsun Huang and his Green Goblin… until now.

Following a path blazed by Asus, Gigabyte and MSI, EVGA looks set to be the latest to jump the Nvidian ship and seek other product partners.