By Gabriel Perna | September 24, 2010 2:50 AM SAST
NVIDIA’s Long Term Plans Show Diversification
NVIDIA’s Long Term Plans Show Diversification
At its annual GPU conference, computer graphics chip maker NVIDIA mapped out a long-term plan which highlighted its diversification into new computing spaces.

The company's three day conference focused on many of its newer products as well as the emerging industries and technologies they can be used in. Aggressively expanding beyond just the traditional PC market is a smart strategy for NVIDIA analysts say.
"Clearly, that is what this conference is about, going beyond PCs," Rob Enderle, analyst from The Enderle Group, said. "This is about their technology solving other kinds of problems."
One of the biggest spaces NVIDIA has made a move is in mobile computing. Tegra, the company's mobile chip product, before recently was known more as a tease rather than an established product.
However, at the conference, NVIDIA announced Tegra 3 will soon launch and Tegra 4 is already in development. Furthermore, HTC recently announced its tablet will use Tegra as will ViewSonic. Also, LG said it will make a line of smartphones with Tegra.
"Tegra, which was over promised and under delivered, has finally turned the corner in my mind," Ambrish Srivastava, managing director and senior analyst at BMO Capital Markets said. "Their investment into Tegra shows they are looking to take advantage of this opportunity in a fast opening market. By the end of the initial rush, there will be a few companies left standing in the mobile chip business. NVIDIA could benefit from this push. Instead of protecting their old turf, they're realizing that turf will shrink and they're expanding beyond that."
Another strategy in the mobile space which could benefit NVIDIA is its willingness to work with ARM Holdings. The Cambridge, England based company is responsible for most of the architecture seen on smartphones and tablets.
"NVIDIA embraces ARM, Intel is going against them. NVIDIA doesn't see them as a threat, clearly Intel does. Intel is competing against that, NVIDIA wants to enhance it. Depending on that enhancement, NVIDIA might have the easier path into that space," Enderle said.
Along with competing in the mobile chip space, NVIDIA has diversified through its supercomputer chip product Tesla. At the conference, NVIDIA announced Tesla would be built into several products including IBM's blade server, Cray's XE6 supercomputer and T-Platforms TB2.
"Most of the large OEMs are using Tesla in some shape or form," Srivastava said. "It's showing up a lot more in supercomputing. The tech reviews for the new architecture have been very positive."
NVIDIA is far from finished. At the conference, NVIDIA president and CEO Jen-Hsun Huang announced the company will introduce the Maxwell chip sometime in 2013. Without going into specifics, he said Maxwell will be 16 times relative to what Tesla is now.
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