Nvidia files counter suit against Intel

Its interesting to see everyone countersuing each other. The only company missing from this bitch fight is rambus. The fact you can use analogies in your article is one of the many reasons why I read the INQ. Keep up the good work.

If NV blocked SLI on intel chipsets they would be playing right into Intels hands. Think about it, who buy more than one card, gamers, enthusiasts and graphic designers. What do these people also want? The best cpu. Who currently makes the best performing CPU? Intel. So these people are left with 2 choices, Intel CPU with 1 NV card or Intel CPU with 2 ATI/AMD cards, which offers almost the same performance in many cases. NV are just digging a big hole with the lawsuit. If there are any signs on NV winning it Intel will just buy them out and be done with it

wild thought: Intel is laying the bed for nvidia to enter the x86 market. All this catfighting is a smoke screen.
In fact, the first step would be to aggravate nvidia enough to reveal their hand in terms how far along their x86 developments are. AMD i think, has been doing the same thing. Either way, Intel gets to kill off AMD, and renegotiate a tighter licence over x86 tech so nvidia cant sneak up later on Intel as AMD has done in the past to nearly steal Intel's crown jewels. Nvidia doesnt have IP rights over graphics cards, so Intel doesnt have to sweat it with Larabee, as long as they have nvidia's CPU on a very very tight leash. Keeps the anti-trust monkeys on the sidelines as well.

Good article Sylvie, I LMAO!

This corporate suits are just hysterical! Keep'em coming!

This article is great. Too funny and too true. It's been a while since I read a tech article that had me laugh several times throughout. Well you know, normally it's that nerdy dry humor.

Nerdy dry humor, hilarious and so true.

Looks like Charlie's fired.. so sad... This article needs more fire..

That was slick how you themed this article with imagery of a mega diva cat fight, including such things as fashion none-the-less. I was laughing a lot and pretty much got the ins on what is going on with legal disputes. Good job, good show.

Nvidia have been fooled by Intel. They have been playing dirty in this case. In this cross license agreement, nvidia and Intel have agree as long as the last patent covered by the cross license is not expire, nvidia still have right building chipset for intel microprocessor. Intel's man is not only paranoid but also greedy.

...that Intel shouldn't pursue CPU/GPU integration on the same die, because it makes it hard for the Nvidia's chipsets? (Isn't AMD doing the same thing, why not sue AMD too?!?) What a joke. This is just a typical countersuit reaction and Nvidia's claims are ridiculous - you have to wonder if they are doing this just to leverage their x86 plan and buy some sympathy for the eventual lawsuit that will occur when that happens.

Intel have been integrated the memory controller just until recently in their core i7 microprocessor line up. They are not have integrated graphics in their microprocessor. NVIDIA only wants they allowed to make chipset for existing Core I7, but Intel banned them to make to do so. Nvidia know AMD have plan to integrating GPU to Microprocessor in the future. I think nvidia want a license to make x86 microprocessor from Intel. They think Intel have been breach the cross license agreement and want a x86 license if Intel don't allow them to make chipset for Intel.

This is exactly why is like Sylvie's articles so much!

As for the suit, if NVIDIA wins it could very well play in AMD's favour, establishing that Intel does play dirty.

If not, then NVIDIA won't be making any chipsets for Nehalem-derived products, which begs the question: what about future Macbooks? If Apple can't use NVIDIA chipsets, then they'll have to go back to (crappy) Intel IGPs. If the newer Macbook had slower graphics, that really wouldn't look good. Steve Jobs could easily sell that to his fanboys, but less fanatic consumers might not be so happy.

The only other option would be to use a discrete graphics card, but that would raise the manufacturing cost, therefore either raising prices or lowering margins, or both. And Macs are already so expensive...

I wonder what Apple's planning to do about this.

Interesting development would if Intel win in these cases they loss both sli and cross fire. I don’t think ATI would survive the fall of AMD. If AMD do survive on 64bit (May the best thing which could happen to computers) there won’t be any cross-fire for Intel computers. Way to shoot your self in the foot Intel or do they still think that crappy-bee and ray scatting are going to save them?

Intel don't much care about Nvidia per-se, just that they pay the ferryman for giving them a ride.

Nvidia seem to believe that the licensing arrangements they made in the past, entitle them to ride the coat-tails of all future Intel R&D investments and advancements. Meanwhile Intel have to negotiate a x-license for SLI on each new chipset.

Intel has one supreme authority that it must submit to - its shareholders.

Giving away IP which you've paid a whole bunch of R&D for, is not going to sit well at the next shareholder meeting, and so Intel must at least be seen to act to protect this asset, and hopefully even win the case.

Of course, if Nvida dies and goes to hell along the way, so be it, but that is not the primary aim of the exercise.

Sorry about the lack of high-heel and make-up analogies.

They've driven everyone else out of their chipset "circle" and now it's nVidia's turn. With SSDs and Larrabbee the entire PC will be Intel.

It's way past time for the FTC and DOJ to get involved in this.

WAAAAYYYY PAST!!!

Intel isn't even close to the highest CAP or REVENUE. Hack em into pieces.
Greedy bastages!!

Look's like many people missing the point. The ultimate reason for AMD and NV suit are:

1. x86 market still huge with a gross margin profit than other CPU market.

2. Not like for Embedded market where there more than 200 company offer you their cores
IP-cells, there's not much competition PC market. Most embedded market is based on C51,
MIPS, SUN, ARM, PIC, x86, Hitachi, IBM, etc (googled it you get a whole bunch of them).

3. The vast available software for x86 (legal/ilegal) outnumber even all the other
architecture together. That is why Intel Itanium doesn't enjoyed success as their
x86 counterpart (which actually in BYTE magazine, Intel confessed they want to replace
the x86 arch with the release of Itanium, but instead they just lengthen the aging x86
arch).

Not only Intel, even APPLE when they make a transition from 680x0 arch to PowerPC to x86
they are forced to make a software binary translation layer from old arch to new arch
while waiting for the software developer to natively made new program based on the new
arch.

All who ever program a translation layer in software know just how much slow the software
is performing. If you don't believe, look at the emulator for Nintendo-64. It took a P4
at more than 1 GHz to emulate a 68010 CPU running at 12 MHz with dedicated (Yamaha OPL)
soundchip.

So if you have a hardware that is NOT based on the x86 arch, and you want to make it
compatible to all the x86 software (cause your market is MID, Netbooks, etc), you have
to make a software translation layer. The next question would be, how fast could you run
those software on your platform? How fast it runs compared to the NATIVE x86 CPU? Kinda
bit like NV wishing for the star, wasn't it?

4. Intel plan to enter seriously into the graphic market (especially for the highest margin
market: High-End Gamer, EDA, Visualization). This unfortunately step on what NV/ATI have
enjoyed for quite some time. For ATI, at least they are less prone as they are bought by
AMD. But NV? NV already tried to bundled it's GPU with ARM, but as you could see from
the news, Tegra adoption was dismall at best (googled it with key "Tegra adoption rate").

Why Tegra fail? Goggled how much company offer an ARM-licensed core with Graphic core.
You see how much are they? What makes ODM want to choose NV offering, when you have a-
whole bunch of company want to supply it?

Even if NV want to make into an MID,NETBOOKS, Sub-Notebook (whatever you called it),
again look at reason 1 & 3. Tegra is based on ARM arch NOT x86. You read even in this
Inquirer, one of the ARM guy want MS to make a complete windows for ARM's. That's because
it want to encourage other developer to release software based on ARM platform.

5. VIA will lose it license of x86 mnemonic soon (look at VIA press release after dispute
with Intel). AMD will also has limitation on how long it can use x86 mnemonic (you don't
think Intel would give them unlimited time to use THEIR mnemonic, do you?).

AMD rumbling is just an attempt to push intel into extending their x86 menemonic. Cause
without x86 compatibility, ATI market position wouldn't be matter once the integration of
CPU & GPU became mainstream.

Make a note also Intel license some feature of the CENTAUR CPU (an discarded x86 compat-
CPU, now own by VIA), after the VIA/INTEL dispute. Should VIA think it still make sense
to produce x86 compatible CPU, it would probably launch a suit to Intel to push it to
extend x86 mnemonic license to VIA. We'll see...

6. NV looking at their CURRENT partner want to leave them in the dust (with GPU/CPU inte-
gration). And saw that their Tegra line aren't successfull, if they want to make it into
the future, they HAD to have x86 license. NV really knows it CAN'T made outside the x86
circle, it just doesn't have the market volume, NV want. That's why they push Intel with
suit like this.

One of the comment in this INQ when they broke the story about Intel licensing Atom to
TMSC is "Now NV could make x86 compat CPU though proxies with TMSC". However if you look
at intel press release regarding this licensing, Intel RETAIN the final call whether the
Atom Core lincense could be given to a particular company. So, it is UP TO Intel whether
they grant the Atom license or not. So NV is NOT off the hook yet.

Now NV is threatening Intel with it's SLI and P2P-transfer license revocation. However
this actually put them in a more dangerous position. Intel/AMD currently in the middle of
dispute. If Intel think the SLI/P2P-Transfer won't worth it's value, all intel has to is
using x86 license as bargain chip to get to ATI/AMD Crossfire and use RAMBUS fast P2P-
transfer
patent for it's future chips.

Now what if this scenario happens? Not only NV would LOOSE the Nehalem and future bus
license so they can't make chipset for Intel, It LOOSE the ability to use their Discrete
GPU in pararel manner within Intel chipset. Do you know HOW MUCH intel based chipset on
the market? Do NV want to LOOSE the ability to run SLI on these motherboard? Who do you
think would loose most by this scenario, huh???

One of the comment on this story is "NV is tricked by Intel by the current arrangement".
Look Pal, it is up to NV legal team and how the NV NEGOTIATE with Intel to get the best deal
for themself. Failure and IDIOCY on the part NV when they signed the contract can't be put
to Intel, Pal! Grow up! That's how the business is done in this place call EARTH!
If Intel get the better deal, then that's mean Intel has a Hell-Good of negotiating team.

That is people, what it mean regarding the dispute between Intel, AMD, NV and soon (perhaps)
VIA. Look at macro level not on micro. I DO hope however VIA & AMD get's the license ex- tension though, cause they put intel in check and not sleep at the table. Not sure for NVidiots however, all I see is a NATO preposition only.

NV_FAN_HATER

Thats the real kicker here. Its like a married couple trying to murder each other when reality dictates that they need each other to survive. Larabee might be fantastic but they need to align themselves against AMD/Ati if they want to weather the bad economy storm in good shape.

Most PC gamers will not go out of there way to adopt larabee boards during this economic climate, that puts the profit margin in jeopardy.

jen-hsun huang needs to eat a bit of humble pie and quit doing his rectal-cranial inversion and look at the bind he is in. He needs to play nice or he might not have nvidia to play with anymore at the rate things are going. That could also be said about how he treats his vendors and 3rd party people.

But its not going to happen. Intel is too stubborn and full of arrogance and nVidia is also too stubborn and full of arrogance as well.

It's hilarious and sad all at the same time.