If all of AMD's Zen 4 Ryzen CPUs come with integrated graphics, Intel will be in serious trouble. This is the latest rumor permeating the edges of the Internet suggesting that AMD will include Navi-based graphics silicon in all of its processors when it moves from the AM4 socket in the future.

"But isn't AMD already shipping processors with GPUs?" the voice in my head asks. Yes, the company's APU strategy goes back long before the Zen architecture was introduced, but these are still specialist chips with very specific price points and usage models.

The advantage of having a graphics component in every CPU shipped is that it will be used in the one place where Intel remains influential: in businesses that do not need or want power-hungry and expensive discrete graphics cards, and in office-based machines, meaning it can nail Intel's rivals.

This may not be the most exciting area for PC gamers, but for Intel it is significant.

Intel may be walking a tightrope in terms of CPU mindshare, actual high-end core counts, and performance, but they are still profitable with the huge amount of processors they ship daily, monthly, and annually. Today, many IT managers are looking for high-performance CPUs and are considering putting Ryzen 5000 chips in many corporate boxes, but they don't want the extra expense of having to procure graphics cards for each company as well.

If a simple integrated GPU is baked into each processor, capable of video output and functioning little else, there is little reason for IT professionals to choose Intel over AMD.

But this is unlikely to happen for some time. We are still in the early stages of AMD's Zen 3 generation, with the possibility of a 6nm Zen 3+ design in between with a future 5nm Zen 4 processor; Zen 4 will be a new AM5 socket and, according to recent rumors, from the AM4 socket that AMD has used since before the launch of the first Ryzen chips, is about to transition to the 6nm I/O chip at its heart.

However, it must be emphasized that the possibility of GPU integration in AMD's future chips is a rumor, not a fact. While it certainly seems like a plausible future for the company's processors, it is also worth remembering that everyone on the Internet is a dog.

Much of this comes from AMD's roadmap, which has pieced together a bunch of rumor threads into one more or less coherent visualization.

Still, it's an interesting thing to consider, and given the fact that Intel sells far more chips in the business than AMD does, I'm sure it's something the Red Team has considered.