Nvidia Chief Executive
Jen-Hsun Huang said he will license graphics technology to other
companies, a new model for the chipmaker that could lead to new business
with Apple, Samsung and other mobile device makers.
Huang told the Reuters Global Technology Summit in San Francisco on Tuesday that licensing graphics cores and visual patents would help Nvidia take greater advantage of the booming market for smartphones and tablets and tap markets it could not reach through selling its own chips.
"The bottom line is the world has changed and we're expanding our business model to serve markets that we historically could not serve by selling chips alone," Huang said. With its core PC market struggling, Nvidia in recent years has established itself in the fast-growing mobile market, creating processors for tablets that take advantage of its graphics expertise.
But Nvidia has faced tough competition from the much larger Qualcomm, limiting its success. Apple designs its own processors for the iPhone and iPad, and top Android smartphone maker Samsung Electronics increasingly uses its own processors in its devices.
Licensing its graphics technology to those or other companies could help Nvidia, with a market capitalisation of about $8 billion, reach further into the mobile industry than it has done on its own.
The move will put Nvidia into direct competition with UK-based Imagination Technologies, whose graphics technology is used in Apple's iPhone, Samsung's Galaxy S4 smartphone and other devices. Apple and top chipmaker Intel own stakes in Imagination.Asked whether Nvidia hopes to license graphics technology to Apple and Samsung, Huang said he is beginning to engage with the marketplace.
"We will target customers where their capacity and desire to build their own application processors is great," said Huang, who co-founded Nvidia two decades ago.
"This is a way for us to engage customers who don't like to buy chips because they like to create their own, because they have the capacity, creativity and now the scale to build their own," he said.
Nvidia will also be competing against UK-based ARM Holdings, which licenses processor technology to chipmakers including Nvidia and is increasingly targeting graphics as well.
Qualcomm uses its own graphics technology on its mobile processors.
Nvidia is also open to licensing its soon-to-launch Long Term Evolution (LTE) modem technology, Huang said.
Nvidia is integrating LTE features on upcoming versions of its Tegra chips, making them compatible with high-end carrier networks. Lack of LTE technology has kept Nvidia, Intel and other chipmakers out of the top-tier smartphone market, dominated by Qualcomm.
Huang told the Reuters Global Technology Summit in San Francisco on Tuesday that licensing graphics cores and visual patents would help Nvidia take greater advantage of the booming market for smartphones and tablets and tap markets it could not reach through selling its own chips.
"The bottom line is the world has changed and we're expanding our business model to serve markets that we historically could not serve by selling chips alone," Huang said. With its core PC market struggling, Nvidia in recent years has established itself in the fast-growing mobile market, creating processors for tablets that take advantage of its graphics expertise.
But Nvidia has faced tough competition from the much larger Qualcomm, limiting its success. Apple designs its own processors for the iPhone and iPad, and top Android smartphone maker Samsung Electronics increasingly uses its own processors in its devices.
Licensing its graphics technology to those or other companies could help Nvidia, with a market capitalisation of about $8 billion, reach further into the mobile industry than it has done on its own.
The move will put Nvidia into direct competition with UK-based Imagination Technologies, whose graphics technology is used in Apple's iPhone, Samsung's Galaxy S4 smartphone and other devices. Apple and top chipmaker Intel own stakes in Imagination.Asked whether Nvidia hopes to license graphics technology to Apple and Samsung, Huang said he is beginning to engage with the marketplace.
"We will target customers where their capacity and desire to build their own application processors is great," said Huang, who co-founded Nvidia two decades ago.
"This is a way for us to engage customers who don't like to buy chips because they like to create their own, because they have the capacity, creativity and now the scale to build their own," he said.
Nvidia will also be competing against UK-based ARM Holdings, which licenses processor technology to chipmakers including Nvidia and is increasingly targeting graphics as well.
Qualcomm uses its own graphics technology on its mobile processors.
Nvidia is also open to licensing its soon-to-launch Long Term Evolution (LTE) modem technology, Huang said.
Nvidia is integrating LTE features on upcoming versions of its Tegra chips, making them compatible with high-end carrier networks. Lack of LTE technology has kept Nvidia, Intel and other chipmakers out of the top-tier smartphone market, dominated by Qualcomm.
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