CNNMoney Fortune sits down with Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO of NVidia, to discuss the contractual wranglings with Intel and the recent news of their FTC Settlement, and the article is a great “cliff notes” version of the dispute and how it has grown over the last decade. The one paragraph version:
Intel, for its part, would like to integrate increasingly sophisticated graphics functions into its CPUs. That way Intel would push Nvidia out of mainstream computing and back into its gaming niche. Huang’s having none of it, though. “We’re better positioned for the future than they are,” Huang insists. Intel declined to comment for this story.
The longer story gets into the cross-licensing of patents between NVidia and Intel, and how NVidia believes Intel violated the terms of the contract when it began pushing NVidia out of the space through (alleged) pricing tricks. Now NVidia was the contract nullified, taking away Intel’s right to use the patents, and (NVidia hopes) bringing Intel back to the bargaining table for round 2.
It’s a risky battle that could radically change the computing landscape if NVidia wins, and I’m not entirely sure if it would immediately be for the better or the worst. In the long run, probably better.
via Has Intel finally met its match with Nvidia? – Aug. 4, 2010.
