You make some interesting points:
Diamond and NVDA will merge. Diamond will spin its graphics division into NVDA. Why?
I think nvidia will try to merge with somebody for all the same reasons that 3dfx did. But the question is, who wants them? I thought it was interesting that creative, who presumably has knowledge of 3dfx's road map, chose to invest $10 million in 3dfx stock last fall. They of course dumped the stock once 3dfx announced the STB merger. But did they buy nvidia stock to the tune of $10 million? Not that I heard of. They were already invested in nvidia (just like diamond and stb) to help keep them afloat until their IPO, but I don't think they bought any more.
Neither diamond or nvidia are financially all that strong. Creative has lots of cash, but there may be conflicting personalities between the CEOs. What will happen? Hard to call... I'm guessing it will be someone else: leadtek, hercules, go it alone and contract board manufacture?
2. S3 has announced significant design wins
Selling a part for under cost can do that. It worked well for the i740 too. This competes against ATI and Intel's whitney the most though. The S4 is slower than an original TNT; I don't think it's in the same league as the V3 or TNT2.
I am concerned about the fab space too. I read where nvidia is using TMSC's US fab factory now. I don't know what the significance of this is, if any. Is it better, faster, more expensive, or just another factory?
Somebody please ask 3dfx about fab space pressures and what they've done to insure production!
Plaz |
