14 DAY TRIAL // While AMD is saying that NVIDIA likes to bribe game developers, the Santa Clara GPU maker is appearing on TV and answering questions concerning the ongoing litigations with Intel over NVIDIA's rights to manufacture chipsets. Recently, NVIDIA Chief Executive Officer Jen-Hsun Huang agreed to an interview with Fortune magazine and took advantage of the situation to spell out just how firm the company's position was in relation with Intel's efforts to drive them out of the chipset market.
A few years ago, the processing and graphics industries had, on the one hand, Intel and AMD struggling to outdo each other on the CPU front and, on the other hand, ATI and NVIDIA doing the same on the graphics segment. Such a situation was not exactly surprising and, in some respects, it was beneficial, as it drove progress and innovation. Then an event occurred that changed the face of the industry up to this day: AMD acquired ATI, leading to the creation of the Intel-AMD-NVIDIA love (or hate, depending on the context) triangle.
That NVIDIA's CEO is an outspoken individual can now be said to be an understatement, as Mr. Jen-Hsun Huang showed no reservation when he explicitly stated that there was no chance of Intel and NVIDIA reaching a settlement. NVIDIA sees no reason to agree to a compromise and sees Intel's accusations as “completely nonsense.” The CEO even went as far as stating that NVIDIA is actually looking forward to meeting Intel in court.
While this outspokenness may or may not be preferable to a more “tactful” approach to the issue, the fact remains that a settlement may actually be less profitable for the GPU maker than going forward with the litigation battles. If NVIDIA wins, as it is very confident it will, it will once again be allowed to make chipsets, which will definitely boost its profits. Now all that remains is to see how the actual court actions progress.