NVIDIA Merges Ion and Tegra Teams

Even though consumers are so focused on the upcoming launch of Fermi that nothing else seems to matter, as far as NVIDIA is concerned at least, one should not forget that the Santa Clara GPU maker did, in fact, bring forth a number of advancements on the mobile front. The lack of support for DirectX 11 aside, not only did the company release an intuitive switchable graphics technology (Optimus), but it also launched the Tegra ARM system-on-chip and the new ION for netbooks. These three technologies rather clearly point out the company's interest in the mobile sector, an interest that, according to recent reports, is strong enough to warrant changes to the company's internal structure.

According to TechEye, NVIDIA made a significant change to the structure of its development teams. Specifically, the company quietly merged its Tegra and ION development collectives. This means that the number of people now working together on advancing both the system-on-chip and the netbook graphics solution amounts to an astounding 650 people. Through this merger, the Tegra development will likely pick up speed, which means that NVIDIA might seek to quickly bring out a strong tablet platform.

According to TechEye, one of the main reasons behind this move may actually be the ongoing litigations that NVIDIA has with Intel. The CPU giant doesn't want NVIDIA making chipsets for its processors. As such, NVIDIA hasn't made any new chipsets for desktops or mobile PCs for some time. With the rise of tablets, however, NVIDIA might see a special opportunity. Since the Tegra has nothing to do with Intel, being based on ARM architecture, making a new mobile platform with it and the ION wouldn't be a problem. This means that there may be a hefty number of Tegra/ION-based tablets and other portable devices in the not so distant future.

It remains to be seen whether Intel manages to permanently lock NVIDIA out of the x86 chipset business but, in such a situation, making ARM chipsets and SoCs with advanced, ION-level graphics might prove an effective failsafe for the latter. Of course, NVIDIA doesn't think it will come to that, being quite enthusiastic about meeting Intel in court.