Nvidia: We're Staying in the Chipset Business
This week there were reports that Nvidia would be dropping out of the chipset business. Nvidia responded with the following:
We've received a number of inquiries recently about NVIDIA's chipset (MCP) business. We'd like to set the record straight on current and future NVIDIA chipset activity. On Intel platforms, the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M/ION brands have enjoyed significant sales, as well as critical success. Customers including Apple, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Samsung, Acer, ASUS and others are continuing to incorporate GeForce 9400M and ION products in their current designs. There are many customers that have plans to use ION or GeForce 9400M chipsets for upcoming designs, as well. On AMD platforms, we continue to sell a higher quantity of chipsets than AMD itself. MCP61-based platforms continue to be extremely well positioned in the entry CPU segments where AMD CPUs are most competitive vs. Intel We will continue to innovate integrated solutions for Intel’s FSB architecture. We firmly believe that this market has a long healthy life ahead. But because of Intel’s improper claims to customers and the market that we aren’t licensed to the new DMI bus and its unfair business tactics, 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. Despite Intel's actions, we have innovative products that we are excited to introduce to the market in the months ahead. We know these products will bring with them some amazing breakthroughs that will surprise the industry, just as GeForce 9400M and ION have shaken up the industry this year. We expect our MCP business for both Intel and AMD to be strong well into the future.
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jhansonxi "But because of Intel’s improper claims to customers and the market that we aren’t licensed to the new DMI bus and its unfair business tactics, 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."Reply
I hate it when companies use these tactics to reduce consumer choice, just like that other company that prevented PhysX processing on its GPUs when a competitor's video card was also present. -
IronRyan21 I think Nvidia read the comments posted on todays earlier news concerning this......... then they came out wit this!Reply -
IzzyCraft How about that one company with those dogmatic fanboys you know the one that has a cpu and gpu line and both dogmatic fanboys from both area's that complain all the time.Reply -
joejamesatou Please just pay the licensing for Intel DMI and quit complaining! Or release the new chipsets if you are confident you are right and let your lawyers have at Intel. They make some great chipsets and used to be my favorite back in my AMD Athlon XP days, but they just do so much whining and complaining. Whether it's dissing Intel, claiming DirectX 10.1 is useless (then releasing a 10.1 card!), banning PhsyX on an AMD card, charging motherboard makers for SLI (Crossfire = free) NVidia has a knack for this kind of behavior.Reply
But I do love my 9600 GSO for under $40!!! -
Is it just me, or is it hard to believe that Nvidia can sell more chipsets than AMD for AMD's processors?Reply
I am not saying it is not possible, but it is just something that I would like to see the sales figures for. -
koss64 Im sorry im not buying another Nvidia based board again.Right now im having a issue with my onboard network card(570sli) where 6/10 times when i load windows its completly dead, i restart and its fine and no matter what version chipset driver i load it does the same blasted thing.Reply -
The original statement by Nvidia is still the operative one for consumers, business and investors, not their latest attempt (above)to improve their image of withdrawal from the board (and also, it seems, the discrete graphic chipset) market.Reply
Nvidia is being very disengenuous in this "clarification". Their claim to "more chipsets than AMD" is based on corporate deliveries, where a frequent requirement is to be able to supply the same chipset under contract for a period of 3 to 5 years. These contracts are ending, Nvidia will not be designing new chipsets for the AMD platform, and even if they could they would not be cost-effective against AMD's chipsets for future orders, and over time AMD's changes in architecture (and what is in the CPU vs board chipset) will render Nvidia completely incapable of designing and producing chipsets for the AMD platform profitably. And that's what the game is, eh?
The consumer segment of Nvidia's chipsets for AMD has already gone the way of the dodo, ever since the 780 (and then 790 and 785) chipsets were produced. Just look at the listings on NewEgg et al, and you will see hardly any NV chipset boards listed, and the number is declining daily. The Intel situation is well understood by all; Intel says Nvidia can't legally produce for the new Intel platforms, period, and Nvidia hope to delay/fuzz the situation by relying hopefully on "a lawsuit".
Their ION volumes could be measured on the head of a pin, with an electron microscope.
Laterally, due to their "bumpgate" disasters (documented exhaustively in a series of articles at semiaccurate.com), they have lost the confidence of a great number of their ad-in board and OEM manufacturers. Huge return rates for most/all 8000, 9000 and some 2xx chips, coupled with the duplicitious denial of Nvidia that anything was wrong, has not endeared themselves to the board/OEMs, including Sony, Dell, HP, Apple et al. Huge charge-offs on Nvidia's balance sheet, too.
And their new humungously-sized and complex Fermi chip is still under development, is probably not intended primarily for the consumer market, isn't anywhere cost-effective compared to AMD, and *may* see the light of day in significant numbers by the end of Q1/10. May is the operative word here.
No, Nvidia is in a pickle, and a world of hurt. No wonder their share price is tanking. No wonder they offer fuzzy "explanations" like the above.