Nvidia CEO mulled the future of graphics

JEN-HSUN HUANG had an extended Q&A session with scribe Dean Takahashi last week, in which everything from US immigration to GPU programmability was covered.

One of the more interesting comments made concerned Sony's adoption of Blu-Ray in the PS3. "I'm excited that they made Blu-ray high-definition storage as a standard part of the PlayStation 3 platform... To postpone it by a few months so they could include Blu-Ray was a master stroke. When that comes out, it's going to look so much more advanced than last-generation game consoles. I think that was a wonderful call on their part," said Huang.

Huang reckoned Nvidia's involvement with Microsoft on the previous XBox "made perfect sense" to him, considering his firm's "$750 million a year in R&D in graphics processing." No further comment was made concerning Microsoft's abandoning of NVidia components for the use of ATI parts in the new XBox 360, only further promotion of the NVidia-GPU-based PS3.

Huang was also pressed about Nvidia's current relationships with Intel and AMD, which must be even more important now AMD is buying Nvidia main competitor. "Intel is large and they can build an entire platform. AMD's advantage is that they are small, nimble and very focused," he suggested, although he was grilled before the AMD/ATI love-in was announced.

The graphics boss also responded to questions on how Vista would promote the use of GPUs in new PCs. Huang sees a surge in demand for GPU-based product that should continue for several years, primarily caused by Vista's Aero GUI demands. Then, by a secondary demand caused by other products that will move further towards a 3D interface necessitating the need for a full-powered custom GPU.

"One of the secondary dynamics of Windows Vista is that very shortly after Windows Vista launches, you'll see all sorts of applications that have gone completely 3-D. Excel is going to go 3-D. Everything goes 3-D. Then there will be more consumption of GPU capabilities. That will prompt a second wave of consumption for GPUs."

Interesting times ahead for NVidia, although the surge in demand caused by Vista should ensure a tidy number of sales in the next couple of years, the threat of AMD + ATi coupled with the increased graphics-related activity at Intel, must be a significant worry for Jen-Hsun Huang and co. µ