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NVIDIA To Exit Chipset Business

Posted by kdawson on from the told-you-so dept.

The rumor that we discussed a few months back is looking more real. Vigile writes "Once the darling of the enthusiast chipset market, NVIDIA has apparently decided to quit development of future chipsets for all platforms. This 'state of NVIDIA' editorial at PC Perspective first highlighted the fact that the company was backing away from its plans to develop a DMI-based chipset for Intel's Lynnfield processors due to legal pressure from Intel and debates over licensing restrictions. That effectively left NVIDIA out in the cold in terms of high-end chipsets, but even more interesting is the later revelation that NVIDIA has only one remaining chipset product to release, what we know as ION 2, and that it was mainly built for Apple's upcoming products. NVIDIA still plans to sell its current offerings, like MCP61 for AMD platforms and current generation ION for netbooks and nettops, but will focus solely on discrete graphics options after this final release."

12 of 185 comments (clear)

  1. Intel? by _PimpDaddy7_ · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Do we get mad at Intel?

    This is a sad day.

    Competition is good, I'm sorry.

    1. Re:Intel? by linhares · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I think this is a clever ploy to make Intel play nice with Nvidia. By "letting go" of the market, true or not, Nvidia sends a message that Intel is a monopoly, which puts Intel in a much worse position (remember the EU) than Intel has when competing with Nvidia in the chipset scenario. Obviously, it's impossible to know what's going to happen. But if I were at the top @ Intel, I'd be freaking out a little, for this tiny little company "we have crushed" (that's what Nvidia makes it look like) will get us into the spotlight from regulators. I'm gonna go get some popcorn.

  2. WebGL by tepples · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Do we get mad at Intel?

    Yes. Intel hasn't produced a competitive GPU for its integrated graphics. This will become painfully apparent once web sites start to use JavaScript bindings for OpenGL ES.

    1. Re:WebGL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm not looking forward to that day. Everything done with JavaScript so far has sucked filthy penises.

      Take the stupid comment slider here at Slashdot, for example. The old non-AJAX approach worked just fine. You didn't have to click "More" and then wait, click "More" and then wait, etc. hundreds of times just to see all of the comments.

      And you could view the -1 comments easier, as well. Even now I still don't know how to show the hidden comments. The piece of shit sidebar panel says "# Hidden", but I pull on the dragger thing and it refuses to move! The other one works fine, though.

      I see the equation as being:
      Idiot Web Developers + JavaScript + OpenGL ES = Totally Fucking Horrible Web Sites Which Make Me Want to Cry

  3. Re:What about their embedded procs? by Mortice · · Score: 4, Funny

    Tegra, Tegra, wherefore art though Tegra?

    I'm not. Wherefore do you ask?

  4. Doesn't look good for Nvidia by PolarBearFire · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They better have a compelling product with the upcoming fermi then, but from I what I hear they're trying to design their GPUs for more general purpose computing, specifically scientific computations. It's a really big gamble and I can't see that it will be a huge market. Their upcoming products are supposed to have 3 billion transistors which is way more than 4x the amount in an i7 CPU. It's probably going to cost a ton too.

  5. Re:Intel? Probably Not. by mpapet · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I would argue Intel's strength relies a little on the U.S. intellectual property laws and procedures. If the country loosened intellectual property law, Nvidia might have a chance in hell.

    But this is also about a global market where 80% of product comes from maybe 10% of all possible manufacturers and there are few laws preventing Intel from doing all kinds of market shenanigans in places like China.

    I know the loosening of intellectual property laws would help Nvidia's case, but I don't think it would bring about a semi-competitive marketplace because this market (global OEM) has few legal constraints.

    --
    http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
  6. This is False by Sycon · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-gpu-graphics-chipset,8821.html They have explicitly stated they have no intention of leaving the chipset business.

  7. Not quite right... From Ken Brown at Nvidia... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Reported at HardOCP... http://www.hardocp.com/news/2009/10/08/nvidia_statement_on_chipset_business

    NVIDIA's Ken Brown wanted to give us NVIDIA's thoughts on the current state of its chipset business. So here it is in its full text.

    Hi,

    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.

    Let me know if you have any questions, and thanks for your interest.

    Best,

    Ken

  8. Not Intel by Groo+Wanderer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Do we get mad at Intel?"

    Yeah, they made Nvidia look bad by putting out chipset that met spec, survived average use, then had the gall to not hide the fact! (see http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377) I mean really, how can Intel do business like that? And people wonder why Nvidia is bailing, then trying to hide it before Wall Street notices and downgrades them more.

    The story goes like this.
    1) Nvidia stops designing future chipsets
    2) Nvidia blames Intel for nebulous atrocity
    3) Nvidia hides the facts
    4) It gets out
    5) Nvidia admits it
    6) Wall Street notices (several analyst reports out on the subject today)
    7) Nvidia realizes that Wall Street noticed
    8) Nvidia backpedals, hard, fast, and with all due slime

    The 'denial' they are throwing around now states that they are not going to develop AMD chipsets anymore, not going to develop Intel chipsets anymore, and only going to continue selling the ones they have made. Until Intel stops making FSB chips in a few months, then it WILL be Intel's fault somehow.

    Back to the original question, can you explain how Nvidia voluntarily stopping design of AMD chipsets is Intel's fault? :)

    I saw this a year ago when I saw them stop most if not all future chipset products. I wrote it up. Nvidia denied it. A year later, they announce a stoppage for a few hours until the implications sink in. Then they deny it.

    Yup. Intel. Those bastards!

    I agree about the competition part, but this isn't sad, it was planned.

                        -Charlie

    1. Re:Not Intel by ByOhTek · · Score: 4, Informative

      That's GPUs, not mobo chipsets.

      Any pretty much every manufacturer has had screwups. That being said, nVidia has made some nice performance chipsets in the past, and it's a shame to see them go. Really, for my experience, and in terms of reliability, they are have been the only company to produce chipsets that could compete with Intel.

      --
      Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
  9. This is FUD and should be removed. by Zoson · · Score: 4, Informative

    nVidia has published an official response.
    http://hardocp.com/news/2009/10/08/nvidia_statement_on_chipset_business