NVIDIA to buy significant stake in VIA?
By Ross Miller 
posted March 28th 2009 4:28AM
posted March 28th 2009 4:28AM
[Via Electronista]
posted March 28th 2009 4:28AM
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FIRST!!! 111 !!! woot.
if that makes you THAT angry dude, you need to reconsider using the internet, and yes i am for cereal.
But Dave, based on your comments about homosexuals, aren't you THAT angry dude? ;)
Interesting...
maybe this way nvidia can get it's hands on that sweet x86 license and finally have a real chance to compete with Intel and AMD in the CPU market? maybe buy all of VIA and 'stick it to the man'?
That's what I was thinking, why start from scratch when you can buy somebody else that already have 70-80% of what you want. Like AMD when they went after ATI for the chipset and graphics parts so that they could have a unified platform to "compete" more directly against Intel.
.. nVidia looking for an alternate way into Intel's x86 IP?
Probably but I am not so sure how transferable x86 license is. I wouldn't be surprised if Intel would sue NVIDIA over it if they actually buy VIA and starts producing CPU's.
In 1999 VIA buy Cyrix and get x86 so x86 license is transferable and Intel can't sue NVIDIA.
In the same time Intel might sue AMD but can't remove cross license since AMD own license of ...
x86/64 that used in most Intel cpu - except Intel-atom for netbook -
memory controller - this part is need in every system to make cpu work -
Been expecting this kind of move since the announcement of Larabee. It is inevitable for nVidia to either be bought by Intel or to buy one of the x86 Licensees ( i always thought it would be VIA due to the similarities in both corporate directors and engineering heavy background or the ill faded Transmeta now novafora).
It really does not matter what you call it CPU or GPU or XPU. It's a processing unit and there are new programming models to take advantage of the proprieties of both processing units, like Standford's GRAMPS programming model, OpenCL, etc...
However since certain features are so cheap to do in one context vs the other is you don't have access to the x86 instruction set or a way to emulate it (very quickly) then you are going to run into trouble since most software is compiled for x86 (the mobile market being the exception).
With the movement to integrated systems like AMD fusion and Intel Larabee, we are more and more getting close to the SoC solution where you have cpu gpu and chipset all integrated into one, nVidia needs to get smart again (they behaved smart for many years) and stop with the childish quarrels with Intel.
Costumers will decide what is best, the Intel vs nVidia discussions are entertaining but also distracting from the fact that both companies have failed into adding truly innovative products to their catalogs. nVidia has gotten very laggard addressing there manufacturing issues and control quality that has been creating many millions of dollars in refunds, recalls and other non profitable activities, that tarnish the reputation of the company and it's products.
Another field that nVidia has been very late to the game is in the mobile and netbook segment. Tegra has been kicked around for almost 2 years now and still no products have come out. There is no SDK publicly available and nVidia seems to be totally apathetic about the situation.
The merger news if true are welcomed. I for one hope they are true, even though it means a couple of rough years for investors and a few hundred more qualified engineers getting the axe.
hopelly this means a faster transition into the netbook market
NVIADIA logo ftw.
Google logo ftw.
or...multi core GPUs?
GPU's are multi core now.
Have you ever seen the size of a GPU? Its massive.
Putting more stream processors, which are tiny calculation units, are the most important thing that for GPU's. That and refined paths. Thats why GPU's annihilate CPU's in terms of calculations per clock. It takes hundreds of CPU's to equal the calculation power of one GPU.
This will be as successful at the ATI AMD merger.
DAAMIT vs INVVADIIA - let the battle for the wooden spoon begin.
Do it! Via sucks.. You can be awesome
Yeah, this smacks of an x86 manoeuvre.
Clearly, the merged company's name will be NVIVIA!
I prefer nVidiaVIA.
nVIA...
there you go peeps :) Short,sweet and deadly.
Viva nVia!
nV
Finally, a chrome GPU that might work well....
What took them so damn long?! But economic conditions is just right for takeovers, mergers, or stake-in.
agreed. nvidia has a shit load of cash... and stock prices are pretty darn close near their bottom
Yeah second that, sounded like 7-Up's Fido Dido
I predicted this months ago whey they announced they were working on a cpu. Awesome!!!
I have faith in VIA , i think its a great idea
yes nVIAda, please create the ultra efficient netbook with 16:9 1152x? res screen, and awesome 9400 graphics integrated!!
QUAD CORE VIA PROCESSORS COMING SOON!!!
pssst... it's a secret ^_^
Isn't merging only done nowadays to get big enough to apply for a bailout? Since the rest of the time it's better to split rather than join.
You're obviously American, because you understand jack shit about economics.
No need to understand anything in this case, I'm speaking about an observation, splitting up companies is happening all over, and joining seems the happening right before bailouts, at least here in the EU.
And when you think about it, getting all bulky and unmanageable large and becoming vulnerable is what is at the root of the decline, it's all the big boys going down that seems to be dragging the rest with them in their vortex.
Indeed, love the 'shop job :)
Heu... if VIA have a x86 license, why the hell cant we run xp on it?
I don't know about you, but I am tired of nVIDIA buying up all the competition, leaving less choice for us consumers in the market place.
First it was, 3dFx (kick ass Graphics Cards), next ULi (kick ass chipsets), Ageia, PortalPlayer, with rumors going around that nVIDIA would also buy a stake in AMD. There are more, but I don't know them all. With the exception of Ageia, nVIDIA seems to buy these companies and then let much of the technology just go stale.
It's cool, but I probably would have gone with NVIVIA. same number of letters ;)
Technically, 3dfx (mainly it's management team and their decision to buy STB, even at the behest of their customers) and its creditors were the ones who dug the grave for 3dfx.
And Ageia wasn't really a competitor; they just happen to have something interesting that they can put on their own products.
I guess a good analogy is if a car company were to buy a company that made fuzzy dice.
ULi was to expand their southbridge market and probably had some IP they could use.
PortalPlayer....who knows where that tech went...maybe in one of their portable console chip parts or they just wanted to have an IP portfolio for it.
As far as 3dfx technology is concerned, SLi comes to mind (at least the concept).
And they did use the Rampage team on their GeForce FX line (which well...was a disaster for them)