SiliconBeat

Chip industry watchers have been eagerly awaiting news about the progress of Intel’s graphics-oriented chip, dubbed Larrabee, which has been under development for what seems like ages.

Intel executives hope Larrabee will help them compete with the highly popular graphic chips offered by Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices.

But when Intel gave a little demonstration of its chip last week during the Santa Clara company’s annual San Francisco event for people working on Intel-related products, the reaction among some analysts was less than awestruck.

“The 3D graphics were underwhelming” compared with those offered by Nvidia’s and AMD’s chips, wrote Global Crown Research in a note to its clients.

In its own note, Raymond James called Intel’s unveiling of Larrabee “surprisingly pedestrian” and noted that “the sad demo tells us the project is in trouble.”

Ouch!

Another local semiconductor company that appears to be showing signs of life is Nvidia, the Santa Clara maker of graphics-oriented chips - known as GPUs - that are highly valued by computer gamers and other folks.

This week the company reported it lost $105 million, its fourth such plunge into the red in the past five quarters. But it forecast improved sales for the next quarter and Wall Street seemed pleased, according to analysts whose notes are routinely checked by SiliconBeat.

Craig Berger of FBR Capital markets called Nvidia “an interesting story with many potential revenue growth drivers.”

And Hans Mosesmann of Raymond James had especially nice things to say about Jen-Hsun Huang, Nvidia’s co-founder and CEO, saying he has “done an excellent job over the past year.”

This year’s global fall-off in shipments of graphics-oriented microchips is likely to be the worst ever tracked by Jon Peddie Research.

The Tiburon-based consulting firm estimates that graphic-chip shipments will drop 12 percent this year compared with 2008. That’s a nasty change, since shipments have seen double-digit increases every year since 2002, except for 2008 when they rose only about 6 percent.

Still, Peddie predicts a big turnaround next year, when graphic-chip shipments are expected to surge by nearly 22 percent.

“Taking together our data, interviews with suppliers and world economic forecast models, we believe the worst is over and Q3 will show recovery leading all the way through 2010, subject to seasonal adjustments,” it noted in a recent press release.

That should be good news for Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia, two Silicon Valley companies that specialize in graphic chips.

Opti, a former maker of semiconductors that now makes its living licensing its intellectual property, said today it prevailed over Apple, which it has sued alleging patent infringement, in a special proceeding required under U.S. patent law where both sides present their arguments to the court as to how they believe certain terms at issue in the lawsuit should be interpreted.

The court ruled that OPTi had prevailed on all “claims construction” against Apple and rejected Read the rest of this entry »

Opti said it prevailed in an arbitration with Nvidia over its continued use of Opti’s “pre-snoop” technology, and is owed $3.75 million plus interest for Nvidia’s unpaid use of the intellectual property involved for the five quarters from Feb. 1, 2007, through April 30, 2008, according to a filing the company made with the SEC Tuesday.

The two companies had entered into a licensing agreement in 2007 as part of the settlement of a patent infringement claim Opti brought against Nvidia in 2004, according to Tuesday’s filing. The agreement called for Nvidia to make quarterly royalty payments of Read the rest of this entry »

Nvidia said Thursday it plans to eliminate 360 positions worldwide, or about 6.5 percent of its workforce “to allow for continued investment in strategic growth areas.” The layoffs are expected to be completed by the end of its fiscal 2009 third quarter on Oct. 26, according to a regulatory filing late Thursday afternoon. The company expects to record restructuring-related expenses of about $7 million to $10 million.

Nvidia’s board also approved a proposal from its management Read the rest of this entry »

Jen-Hsun Huang, the founder and chief executive officer of graphics chip-maker Nvidia, will donate $30 million to help build a “modern and sustainable destination for education and research” at Stanford’s school of engineering, according to a Stanford press release.

To be called the Jen-Hsun Huang School of Engineering Center, the 130,000-square-foot building is already under construction and expected to be completed Read the rest of this entry »

Nvidia shocked investors Wednesday when it said its profitability in the quarter just ended would be lower than it had previously forecast in early May. The company cited delays in a new multi-chip package product, pricing pressure for its graphics processing products and “end-market weakness around the world”. Investors were not pleased. Read the rest of this entry »