Day of chipset reckoning arrives for NVIDIA

It has been obvious for some time that integrated graphics processors (IGPs) will move from the chipset onto the processor die, and that this development will leave NVIDIA with no market for its chipsets. Such an eventuality is, in fact, the reason behind the oft-mooted skunkworks NVIDIA x86 project (the thinking goes that NVIDIA will try to compete with CPU/GPU combo chips from Intel and AMD by producing a CPU/GPU combo of its own). Regardless of whether the secret, NVIDIA-made x86 processor will ever see the light of day, it seems that NVIDIA has not only resigned itself to the eventual loss of its chipset business, but they've also decided not to blow any more money fighting a losing battle with Intel in that space. Today brings word that the GPU maker is bailing on the chipset market for Nehalem, and opting to halt development of future chipsets that might work with Intel's recently announced Core i5/i7 PC architecture. It's also looking like NVIDIA will quit developing new AMD chipsets, as well. NVIDIA has released a slew of statements to different press outlets, including Ars, pining the blame for this decision on the company's ongoing patent dispute with Intel (see below for more on this).

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Tags: corei7 corei5 gps nehalem tegra