nVidia ‘broadens’ negotiations in Intel licensing spat [u]
Apparently the graphics chipmaker isn’t liking how things were going and decided to pull out a few chairs for its customers at the negotiating table, currently a court in Delaware. Although Intel probably has the power to shape the industry as it chooses, the company must now do so much more publicly.
InformationWeek reports that nVidia has suspended chipset development for Intel’s latest processors, as well as future CPUs, too. The move comes in response to an effort by Intel, rightly or wrongly, to essentially invalidate its licensing agreements with the graphics chipmaker with the crux of the matter being the a “new” communications technology known as DMI (direct media interface).
Thereupon, nVidia says that, “it is effectively impossible for us to market chipsets for future CPUs. So, until we resolve this matter in court next year, we’ll postpone further chipset investments for Intel DMI CPUs.”
[u] See also: PC Perspective:
NVidia is leaving the once-profitable chipset business behind. The term “well into the future” is purposely ambiguous after all – ION and the ION 2 product could in fact last into 2011 if nVidia plays its cards right or it could fizzle out in mid-2010 depending on how aggressive Intel becomes on pricing, etc. After ION 2 sees the door we can assume that parts of the chipset team at nVidia will survive to do marketing and support of the product but engineers will be reassigned or looking for new work outside the company.[u]
Good morning, Cupertino
With the exception of Mac Pro, every Macintosh currently available is built around an Intel processor and nVidia chipset, specifically the latter’s 9400M imbedded solution. Yes, there are Macs with BTO options that include ATI graphics solutions, but Apple has put in with nVidia and its game-changing chipsets lock, stock and, now, two-smoking barrels.
Further, these products have been extremely popular with customers, helping Apple to grow Mac unit volume and revenue growth throughout the economic downturn while cutting prices in all but one quarter so far, an amazing feat.
Likewise, many PC makers have made strong commitments to nVidia 9400M-powered products, especially as relates to netbooks, and customers there have also responded enthusiastically.
Here’s my take
Until 2008, Intel was far and away the volume leader and owned the low-end, entry-level (i.e. integrated graphics) PC market. Moreover, in this same rough time frame the company promised the transition from GMA 950 to X3100 graphics, their current offering, would be revolutionary, though actual performance has been a much more evolutionary step forward.
Nevertheless, in a world without the 9400M, Intel’s X3100 would still be the integrated graphics performance and market leader.
So, Intel’s leveraging their control of the underlying architecture to squeeze concessions (what?) from nVidia and that company is now fighting back by blowing the issue open by involving its customers directly. And, honestly, they do have some leverage because no one other than Intel wants to turn back the clock.
Nevertheless, for better and worse, chipzilla owns the PC architecture and could slap nVidia back into the 20th Century. Yes, anti-trust regulators likely would act (eventually), but the damage would be done by then.
Lastly, and this is the saddest part of this whole affair, AMD + ATI isn’t even a viable option for Apple or the broader computer industry. AMD parts are in general at best second best.
Now, with that background, who’s gonna blink first? Intel will eventually build processor and chipset into a single, discreet solution, eliminating nVidia, Via, ATI and a whole lot of other competitors.
What’s your take?
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October 10th, 2009
Whats so wrong with amd+ati ? or even intel + ati, the most basic ati igp far outperforms intels offerings. The writer of this article seems to be grossly misinformed about integrated graphics chipset solutions on the market. Please do a little research before you write about something Ronald.