Notebook Graphics Chipmaker NeoMagic - Profile
Apr-17-1998 4:31 PM, Newsbyte News Network, Craig Menefee, Newsbytes
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1998 APR 17 (NB) When Intel Corp. {NASDAQ:INTC} got into the graphics acceleration game recently, many analysts shed tears for all the little graphics firms doomed to be squished under the giant's boot. But Prakash C. Agarwal, founder of notebook graphics chip maker NeoMagic Corp. {NASDAQ:NMGC}, claims the microprocessor giant is actually too clumsy and slow for the graphics market.
To stay innovative you have to be nimble, Agarwal told Newsbytes. Innovation and quickness are his constant themes. "In the past, graphics companies have come and gone," he says. "They have success because they have the best products. Then a little while later they stop innovating and then they leave the market. You cannot rest -- if you do, you will be gone."
Agarwal speaks from 20 years spent around computer graphics since he took electrical engineering degrees at the University of Illinois. Before co-founding NeoMagic, he reached the post of vice president and general manager of Cirrus Logic's portable product division, where he was responsible for graphics when Cirrus led the field in both desktops and portables.
"I joined Cirrus when they only had five employees," he says. "When I left, there were 2,500 people. It is a good company." Agarwal is not negative about Cirrus Logic or anyone else, but when asked directly he will say what he thinks. In conversation you get a sense he sees clearly, acts calmly and directly.
Cirrus Logic has pulled out of notebook graphics, but that does not mean the company lost its edge because Agarwal left. Someone at Cirrus told Newsbytes the firm got out because Intel got in. When Intel jumps in, resistance is futile, the message seemed to be.
Futile? Agarwal thinks not, or at least not necessarily. "Intel tried graphics in the past, quite a few times," he points out to Newsbytes. "The 786 graphics co-processor went nowhere. After that they tried a desktop version of VGA graphics that did not go anywhere. Then they had two failed attempts at notebook graphics. So it's not that they have not tried in the past. By the time they came out with something they found out they were at least a generation behind."
He continues: "This time, what they've done with the Chips & Technologies acquisition may help them, but we still have superior technology. So in the short term we do not expect a major problem. Anyway, the market is growing faster than they could possibly take it away. And in the longer term, we will just treat Intel like any other competitor."
Agarwal says he likes what he's doing, most of the time. "We all go through our ups and downs," he tells Newsbytes, "and sometimes we may wonder why we're doing this, but in general we have been fortunate. There have been no major setbacks, and in that sense it has been a very good ride so far."
For NeoMagic it has in fact been a good ride. No single firm now has the 60-70 percent share once held by Cirrus, but NeoMagic does have the largest single market share for current mobile PCs -- 30 percent, Agarwal estimates.
Asked why NeoMagic is thriving where other companies have fallen away, Agarwal replied: "What NeoMagic has done, the whole industry has tried to do for years. We have combined logic and memory into a single gaphics chip. Now, going forward, we need to keep bringing more value to market, using this technology that our competitors are still struggling with."
As serious players, Agarwal acknowledges S3 Inc. "They are primarily in desktops and we are in mobile PCs," he notes. He also nods to Trident and 3Dfx. He notes Western Digital is now gone from the market and Oak technology has failed twice at notebook graphics.
"There are lots of companies coming in and going," says Agarwal. "There are about 40 desktop graphics systems on the market now, but only two or three are successful. So there's a huge market opportunity, but at the same time, there is only room for two to five companies to thrive. If you don't have a 15-20 percent share I don't think you can survive.
"Right now we have all three major notebooks as customers," Agarwal notes with evident pride. "It is the first time in the history of notebooks that the top three all used the same chips. Cirrus Logic once had a 60-70 percent share of the market and even then, they didn't have all of the top three."
Newsbytes asked Agarwal if he had felt trepidation at leaving Cirrus Logic to start a brand new company. "Anytime you start something new, there are always new territories to explore, places you have not been before," he replied. "Did I have big doubts? Not really. I was very confident that if you go after this, you can do it. And we have."
Reported by Newsbytes News Network: newsbytes.com .
(Copyright 1998)
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