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nVidia's hot nForce chipset, which previously worked only with AMD processors, will be adding support for Intel chips -- and nVidia could begin marketing a Pentium-compatible chipset within months.
The graphics processing giant signed a multi-year chipset agreement with Intel, allowing nVidia to use the world's largest chipmaker's front-side bus technology -- essentially paving the way for nVidia to make an nForce platform that supports Intel processors.
There's also a timeline for rolling out the nForce4, Santa Clara, Calif.-based nVidia's latest, with Intel processor support. nVidia said it expects to have those products in volume production during the February-April timeframe, although it declined to disclose specifics of those products today.
Nevertheless, upshots of the deal are likely to include extending not just nForce chipsets to Intel processors, but also providing Intel fans with innovations like nVidia's Scalable Link Interface multi-processor graphics technology.
"Our two companies are working together to enhance the end-user computing experience," said nVidia president and chief executive officer Jen-Hsun Huang, in a statement. "nVidia's product portfolio offers exciting technology options to Intel customers, including our nVidia nForce platform and PCI Express-based SLI graphics technology solution."
It's also clearly a big win for nVidia and its nForce platform.
"This new market segment increases the volume and revenue potential for our NVIDIA nForce business," said nVidia spokesperson Calisa Cole.
In addition to the chipset deal, the two companies also signed a multi-year patent agreement that involves cross-licensing multiple, unspecified product lines and product generations from both Intel and nVidia.
"Today's agreements are significant for both companies and, more importantly, represent a win for our mutual customers who now have more choices for enhancing the PC experience," said Louis Burns, a vice president at Intel and general manager of its desktop products group, in a statement.
While it's not clear exactly which products are included in the cross-licensing deal with Intel, Cole said nVidia intends to build products "in every segment of the industry where we can add value with our technology, including desktops, laptops, media centers, workstations and servers."
The loss of the exclusive support from nVidia for the nForce -- which has proven popular with gamers and PC enthusiasts -- also could be damaging to AMD. Spokespeople from AMD did not return requests for comment by press time.
nVidia, meanwhile, reaffirmed its commitment to AMD.
"AMD is one of our most important technology partners," Cole said. "Our nForce products for AMD CPUs sell very well and have an outstanding reputation for innovation, quality and performance. AMD's latest Opteron and Athlon64 (K8-) CPUs are outstanding products and well received by the market."
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Despite the move by Intel to court nVidia and its nForce chipset, AMD is waving away the loss of exclusivity by one of its hot chipset partners.
Last week, Intel said it had signed nVidia in a multi-year agreement officially allowing nVidia to use the world's largest chipmaker's front-side bus technology. That paves the way for nVidia to make a version of its nForce platform that supports the Pentium.
nVidia said it expects to have those products in volume production during the February-April timeframe.
As a result of the deal, AMD can no longer count on nVidia -- whose nForce has proven popular with the enthusiast crowd -- to support its processors alone.
Nevertheless, AMD largely dismissed the implications of the announcement.
"AMD continues to align closely with nVidia and our more than 3,000 partners to deliver extremely powerful computing solutions to customers in desktop, mobile and server/workstation markets," said company spokesperson Melanie Buck. "AMD believes that open and fair competition is the engine for innovation which ultimately benefits the customer."
Buck also suggested that AMD's support of third-party chipset manufacturers like nVidia helped shape Intel's strategy.
"AMD's strategy of partnering with industry leaders has set the standard, providing customers with the best solutions to meet their individual needs," she said. "We work closely with industry-leading partners such as nVidia to ensure that our customers have the most powerful computing platforms available."
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