A rumor has been circulating over the Internet lately that Intel may seize the opportunity and kill nVidia’s new Ion platform that combines the Intel Atom CPU with an nVidia 9400 GPU. It is well known that Intel and nVidia aren’t the best of friends, but a spokesperson for Intel denied the rumor and strongly underlined that Intel has no intentions of only offering the Atom CPU with an Intel chipset.

Bill Calder, an Intel spokesman, wrote in an e-mail to InternetNews.com, that there is nothing preventing vendors from using the Ion platform. Intel sells Atom as a stand-alone processor, or as package with chipset, he added.

According to Calder, Intel offers the Atom CPU alone or in a chipset bundle, a move which doesn’t shut Atom and could end with higher sales for Intel, a thing the company desperately needs considering the current financial crisis. 

Taiwan tech publication “DigiTimes” said that PC makers have informed the hardware producers that the Atom CPUs for netbooks and nettops are only available bundled with its 945GSE and 945GC chipsets. This move would have squeezed nVidia.

In a report earlier this month, nVidia said its GeForce 9400mGPU (Ion) which is now available in Apple's new generation of MacBook notebooks, would be available for Atom-based netbooks.

"Intel will only sell Atom CPUs and corresponding chipsets in a bundle, but if hardware vendors are unable to buy just the Atom CPU, the Ion platform becomes too expensive for most applications," the report said.