Discussions

This is the big question people are asking for a quite some time, especially because nVidia is bashing hard Intel on their nTeresting newsletters for quite some time. In fact we can interpret nVidia’s criticism on Intel in two ways.

A lot of people don’t know this, but Intel is the leader on the graphics chip market with 35% market share, followed by nVidia with 22% market share, according to Jon Peddie Research (http://jonpeddie.com/press-releases/details/computer_graphics_chip_shipments_dive_in_q4_08_according_to_jon_peddie_rese/) – data from Q4 2008. The problem is the methodology used, which counts integrated video. And nVidia has a point here. First, motherboards with integrated video are usually targeted to people that won’t be playing games at all. They just want an inexpensive solution to run office-style applications, and on-board video is the most cost-effective solution for this market segment. On the other hand, people buy video cards because they want to play games. So this methodology is not taking into account who is really using the video processor to play games. The second problem with Intel’s integrated video solutions is that, according to nVidia, their performance is too low to play current games and, because of that, they shouldn’t even be considered a satisfactory graphics processor. So this methodology is not taking into account who can really play games with their graphics engine.

Now we have the Conspiracy Theory. That nVidia is bashing Intel because they also want their share from the CPU market. This idea gained momentum again when an nVidia’s senior officer declared, during a conference last week, that nVidia may consider manufacture x86 processors in the future for the ultra mobile market (http://www.edn.com/blog/400000040/post/1440041544.html).

In fact nVidia has launched a processor for smart phones, PDA’s and mobile internet devices called Tegra. This processor, however, is based on ARM (Advanced RISC Machine) architecture, not being able to run natively x86 operating systems (like Windows XP or Vista) and applications (like Microsoft Office). This is not a problem, as most smart phones are based on ARM processors. It seems, however, that so far no manufacturer adopted nVidia’s Tegra processor.

By developing and launching a small mobile x86 CPU, nVidia would be competing directly against Intel Atom and VIA nano on the mobile PC market. I not only love competition: I think users deserve it, as it leads to lower prices and better features. And I honestly think that it would be interesting to see another player in this market.

And this could be nVidia’s first step towards the laptop and desktop CPU market – who knows? Especially when we remember that both Intel and AMD have plans to launch CPUs with integrated video processors, and maybe nVidia is secretly planning to have a product to compete with these hybrid CPUs. It makes sense.