NVIDIA CEO shoots down talk of Intel-compatible x86 chip, says his home is 'all Apple'
By Donald Melanson 
posted Nov 9th 2009 2:48PM
posted Nov 9th 2009 2:48PM
NVIDIA's feud with Intel may be at an all-time high these days, but it looks like the company isn't about to go as far as to produce its own Intel-compatible x86 chip, despite persistent rumors to the contrary. That word comes straight from NVIDIA's always talkative CEO Jen-Hsun Huang, who flatly said "no" when asked if there was any truth to the rumors. He further went on to add NVIDIA's focus is on visual and parallel computing, and on "getting our GPUs into the lowest power platforms we can imagine and driving mobile computing with it" -- as it's now attempting to do with Tegra. In a separate discussion after a talk in Dubai, Huang also interestingly revealed that the computers in his household are "all Apple," but he naturally didn't just leave it there -- head on past the break for the complete, must-read quote (as reported by Shufflegazine). Apple uses the best technology for their [computers]. Apple says to their customers: if you buy a computer from us you can be sure we have selected the best technology inside for you. That is their promise to consumers. Their promise to consumers isn't we've selected the best technology for you with the exception of what Intel allows us to use. That's not their promise. And that's why Apple uses the best technology where they want whenever they want. And that's why I'm all Apple! At home it's just Macs everywhere. It's NVIDIA's technology in all of them but I use Macs. My son has two Macs, my daughter has a Mac, there's an extra Mac just in case and my wife has a Mac. It's just Mac, Mac, Mac! Because I know it's got the best stuff inside.
wait...WHAT
EXACTLY what I thought. Macs have been using Intel hardware for a few years now and I think the next line of macbook/pros will use ATI graphics....so.....i dunno.
"And that's why Apple uses the best technology where they want whenever they want."
so not just where they want, but WHENEVER they want. awesome. and this guy is running the company. :captain picard facepalm:
@ JehxOne
You said it all my friend....you said it all.
All Apple? Clearly this guy is out of touch with his gaming products then, because you can't even install a GTX 295, NVIDIA's best gaming card, in an Apple computar.
NVIDIA has really dropped the ball for gamers right now. I wonder if Fermi can beat ATI's chip with many of its transistors useful only for GPU compute.
He EITHER thinks that he works for Apple and will be thus trying to keep his job OR he is just brown nosing Cupertino so that the next batch of iMacs don't come with ATI graphics. Whatever is his reasoning, I think that he is an idiot.
or he's hoping AAPL makes a bid for NVDA. "hey look at us... we love you guys... and we're cheap!"
How badly does that little silicon chip remind you of those throwing stars that some oriental people use as weapons!
There is so much irony here. When it comes to cutting edge game development, environments like Unity3D.com were only available for Apple's Mac running nVidia to develop games for Windows and Nintendo Wii (which uses ATI graphic chips).
It really doesn't matter what the destination platform is. Developers know what 'just works'.
Remember this is the same guy that forced his children to play Xbox over PS2 because it used an Nvidia chip. It doesn't suprise me that he forced everybody on Apple.
this guy sounds like a real douche bag. mac mac mac mac mac mac jesus h...
This guy's sucking Apple's ball's pretty hard...
Yeah, you guys are all right. He probably has no idea what he's talking about, being the CEO of nVidia and all. I'm sure you're all smarter than he is.
Oh yeah, and god forbid he has a personal preference for Macs. People like that should just be hunted down and killed, am I right fellas? Don't be shy now, admit it.
I interned at nvidia last year. Some internal perspective:
It is difficult to overstate how pleased the brass were, or claimed to be, when the Macbooks with 9400M graphics were announced and Apple put up a "nvidia chip" icon next to "Advanced Graphics" text or something like that. Tickled pink doesn't begin to describe it. They were saying what Jen-Hsun just said, that Apple only picks the best and they've picked nvidia. I've no problem believing this is what he actually thinks.
And second, as we all know, Jen-Hsun isn't one to hold back commentary on anything.
Third, WTF with "Apple are all Intel" comments? CPU-wise, yes, they do have Intels, but Huang just denied having a CPU interest a few lines above. (Whether that's true is another story.) The graphics on all Macbooks are nv across the board, the Mini is nv, while iMacs and the Mac Pro are split between ATI and nv. iMac, admittedly, in favour of ATI, but still no shade of Intel graphics.
Before anyone whips out fanboy cards, I don't care for gaming at all and graphics performance generally little; my machines have ATI graphics because that's what Thinkpads (usually) come with.
It’s ridiculous how the Engadget readership ignore the more interesting part of this article to focus on the “All Apple” part. The level of paranoia among Microsoft followers is absurd and you seem to be on a witch hunt for Apple users. The extent you take your fanaticism is really rather sad and it seems that the war against Apple is almost like a religious crusade for many of you. And before you paranoid lunatics inevitably start accusing me of being an Apple fanboy, I don’t and never have owned any Apple products.
As for the important part of this article, with Intel and AMD both developing CPUs with integrated graphics NVIDIA are in real danger of being left without a market. Once the GPU is on the CPU there will be no need for most users to have a separate graphics chip and the only people who will be buying NVIDIA chips will be gamers. Personally I think NVIDIA need to get into the processor market to avoid being sidelined as a niche manufacturer.
I think that picture is of his O-face because Jobs is blowing him under the podium.
@Richard
Good point. I was going to say that NVIDIA will probably always be able to do the PC gaming and production pipeline graphic cards, but I guess that would be pretty niche if they cut out of video cards on pretty much all other rigs.
AHAHHA
he is really sucking Apple's D*ck...
This should be a CEO No He Didn't...
@Steveorevo: OTEE released a Windows version of the Unity development environment a while back. While there are still many Mac developers using it, it's not the exclusive you seem to be implying it is — at least not anymore. Besides, judging from their "Showcase" forum, most active Unity game development is for the iPhone, not desktop platforms. As much as I use and like OS X myself, I have no problem admitting that there is no such thing as Mac gaming (unless you count casual games like Bejeweled and the occasional bit of underperforming Ciderized spilloff from Windows games). Apple missed out on that market, largely by choice. If you want games, you keep a Windows partition around to boot into when you've got the itch (or you just get a console). It comes with the territory.
My UMP also uses a nvidia chip for SATA. There may be others in there as well, I'm not sure. I think there's two chips for SATA and then two for the graphics. So I can see why they like Apple.
God you people are pathetic... I promise your life will reap many benefits if you stop caring so much what brand is on your electronics and just became a fanboy of technology in general. Apple makes some badass stuff. Microsoft makes some badass stuff. If you can't admit either one of those you're an ignorant, closed minded, pathetic little man.
Jesus himself could say he uses a Mac and you would talk shit on him. This guy is a CEO of a company that drives the modern computing age of desktop graphics and you question his tech knowledge? I PROMISE HE KNOWS MORE THAN YOU.
I use an iPhone, game on a Xbox, type this in a MacBook Pro, use a PC I built myself for tech work, watch Blu-rays on a PS3, etc... Catch my drift? These companies are here to serve US. Take advantage of what they have to offer if it works for you and SHUT THE FUCK UP.
I thought the last iMacs had Intel inside ??
No, no, no, the latest iMac users have Steve Jobs inside them. Common mistake. ;)
I thought they weren't called Macs anymore, they're called apples...
I think the point is Apple doesn't fall back on chipsets because they know they're cheaper. They use NVIDIA for their graphics rather than putting everything on one chip, like Intel would like you to (according to this guy)
Not to say this guy isn't crazy, and needs to not pull a Ballmer here and start shouting "MACS! MACS! MACS...MACS!MACSMACSMACS!!!!"
I'm glad I don't have Steve Jobs inside me...
They run on the souls of etheopian orphans, duh.
Now I know, nVidia has kim jong il inside............
Nope, inside every Mac there is an unicorn and it runs on 100% purified love.
No - they are powered by the heart of a kitten.
What a pile of shite
Any news of GTX 380 yet?
yeah, May 2010 at the absolute earliest, so wait it out for the 6800's which will probably come out in Q3 or early Q4 2010.
I don't get it, what would be the point in making an x86 chip for them? They don't have an x86 license to manufacture or distribute them and *Intel isn't going to let them have one so why would they bother making one?
That is where AMD comes in my friend
...so does that mean that "the lowest power platforms we can imagine" are "all Apple"?
quite the fanboy / troll
The guy in the picture kinda looks like kim jong il hahahaha
I would say it's not so much that he looks LIKE Kim Jong Il as much as that his shirt with the browns and reds gives him a decidedly communist look.
i came to say the same thing! i thought it was a photo of him and engadget photoshoped the chip in :D
Yeah I'm sure you also think Asians all look alike :rolleyes:
@vf34wrx - Please, don't be silly. We don't think they ALL look alike. We simply think they all fall into one of several groups of individuals who all look alike... like Kim Jong-il for instance!
I've seen this guy on message boards.
And in Engadget's comments!
and apple is all intel these days. FAIL.
this guy looks like that little dictator that runs north korea. kim ding dong or whatever his name is.
Mac Mac Mac Mac Mac
egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and mac; egg bacon and mac; egg bacon sausage and mac; mac bacon sausage and mac; mac egg mac mac bacon and mac; mac sausage mac mac bacon mac tomato and mac; mac mac mac egg and mac; mac mac mac mac mac mac baked beans mac mac mac...
..or Lobster Thermidor a Crevette with a mornay sauce served in a Provencale manner with shallots and aubergines garnished with truffle pate, brandy and with a fried egg on top and mac.
Apple should go Amd Ati just to reall stick it to Intel
i can't stand Intel or Nvidia but as of right now they have the best solutions
well actually the 5870 is not bad