Intel and NVidia: Getting Closer?

In the world of GPU manufacturers, the recent acquisition of ATI by AMD was a major earthquake, and left NVidia alone with no other choice than finding partnership with Intel or being swollen by Santa Clara’s Giant. There was a little difference, NVidia enjoys being independent, and its value (financial and technology) is higher than ATI.
Couple of months ago, Intel announced its goal to enter true expand its leadership position as GPU manufacturer beyond its share memory graphic chipsets models. Intel wants to join the battle for the most powerful graphic card, and via its project Larrabee, the founder is expecting to benefit from its leadership in parallelization and multicore technologies to deliver graphic components with amazing groundbreaking capabilities. Indeed, processing power required by 3D engines and video displays have a lot of common requirements, and could indeed be perform in parallel by the same unit.
To complete this project, Intel might need the help of NVidia expertise when it comes to software-based handling of GPUs. So if both companies might remain independent, we might see in the coming months an increased number of PR related to Intel-NVidia partnerships in technology development.
A close collaboration between both leaders might also be the only exit for current GPU architecture reaching the edge of current design, a bit like Intel and its P4 couple of years ago. Current GPUs are now the most power-consuming component in our computer, and the major heat-releasing unit to be cool down. NVidia could benefit from Intel experience in developing GPU with an improved performance/watt ratio, and opening new market for future low power consumption