Nvidia Is Trying To Make an x86 Chip

Slatterz writes with a story from PC Authority which says that "Word has reached us that Nvidia is definitely working on an x86 chip and the firm is heavily recruiting x86 engineers all over Silicon Valley. The history behind this can be summarised by saying they bought an x86 team, and don't have a licence to make the parts. Given that the firm burned about every bridge imaginable with the two companies who can give them licences, Nvidia has about a zero chance of getting one."

Comments

Re:What?

[hairyfeet]

So why not just buy Via? They have the license to make x86, and more importantly they have low power CPUs that are ready to go, and with Netbooks and Notebooks taking a big chunk out of the market this would give them a BIG advantage in the market. If they were to buy Via they could join the Via Nano and the Ion GPU and have bad ass low power Netbooks and Notebooks ready to hit the market.

So can someone tell me what the point of doing it the hard way by starting from scratch is? Because IMHO it seems like a giant waste of resources when Via is ripe for the picking and the Nano CPU from what I have seen is a nice mix of low power with decent performance for Netbooks/Notebooks. Paired with the Ion GPU I think they would have a combo that would kick some serious ass in the Netbook and Notebook markets with little effort. Then later on if they desired they could always do a Fusion style joining of the CPU/GPU to get even better power to performance ratio. So why are they trying to reinvent the wheel?