Intel and NVIDIA promote Advanced Shader Delivery
Advanced Shader Delivery is currently supported through the Xbox PC app, while Intel and NVIDIA say they are also working with Microsoft on broader Windows support.
Microsoft is working with Intel and NVIDIA on two new DirectX features aimed at problems PC gamers deal with all the time. One is about running AI features inside games more efficiently. The other is about cutting shader compilation stutter and long first-load times.
On the AI side, Microsoft is preparing DirectX Linear Algebra and DirectX Compute Graph Compiler . The simple version is that these tools should make it easier for developers to run AI tasks through DirectX instead of relying on separate vendor-specific paths. That matters for things like neural rendering, AI upscaling, texture tools, and other effects that need to run fast without getting in the way of the game itself.
Intel and Microsoft continue to evolve the PC gaming ecosystem by providing new features and capabilities to key APIs like Direct3D and DirectStorage, as well as unlocking new optimization techniques through advanced tooling and delivery. We’re very proud to announce that Intel supports all the recent advances in the Windows ecosystem, including:
- DirectX Machine Learning – Introducing DirectX Linear Algebra
- Advanced Shader Delivery – Delivering smoother gameplay from the moment players launch their games
- DirectStorage – Now supporting Zstandard compression
- Microsoft PIX – with new features continually being added to bring Console-Level Developer Tools to Windows
Intel says it is working with Microsoft on DirectX Linear Algebra support, while NVIDIA says it is helping standardize hardware-accelerated AI through DirectX as well. The idea is to reduce the extra overhead that happens when AI workloads bounce around between different parts of the GPU pipeline. In plain terms, Microsoft wants AI tasks to fit into the normal game workflow better, so developers get one cleaner path and players get smoother performance.
Source: NVIDIA
The other part of this collaboration is Advanced Shader Delivery , or ASD. This is Microsoft’s new way of handling shader compilation by sending precompiled shaders with the game download instead of doing more of that work at runtime. That could mean less stutter when launching a game for the first time or when entering a new area. Intel says ASD support is coming to Lunar Lake and Panther Lake, and NVIDIA says GeForce RTX support is planned for later this year.
New announcements from #GDC2026 📣
In collaboration with @Microsoft , we are standardizing hardware-accelerated AI through DirectX to boost GeForce RTX GPU efficiency and provide a unified workflow for the broader development community.
Additionally, we are working to address… pic.twitter.com/POTbLHOodu
— NVIDIAGameDev (@NVIDIAGameDev) March 12, 2026
