Tuesday, May 19th 2009
NVIDIA Accuses Intel of Anti-Competitive Pricing for Atom Processor
Intel was recently awarded a fine of over a billion Euros by the EU for anti-competitive malpractices in the EU. Speaking at Reuters Technology Summit, NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang accused Intel of anti-competitive pricing for the Intel Atom processor, although made it clear that NVIDIA won't be pressing charges any time soon.
According to NVIDIA, Intel sells an Atom processor typically for US $45 a piece, while in a bundle with Intel's own chipset consisting of an i945-class northbridge and ICH7-class southbridge for just $25, that's $25 for the processor and Intel chipset. This is driving away motherboard manufacturers from opting for Intel Atom paired with NVIDIA's single-package Ion chipset, which NVIDIA claims, (and reviews have shown,) to offer superior performance and features at almost half the board footprint. "That seems pretty unfair," Huang said. "We ought to be able to compete and serve that market."
Intel was quick to dismiss Huang's accusation. "We compete fairly. We do not force bundles on any computer makers and customers can purchase Atom individually or as part of the bundle," said Bill Calder, a spokesperson for Intel. "If you want to purchase the chip set, obviously there is better pricing." NVIDIA made it clear it doesn't have any immediate plans to lock onto Intel in (yet) another anti-competition case. "I hope it doesn't come down to that," Huang said. "We have to do whatever we have to do when the time comes. We really hope this company [Intel] will compete on a fair basis," he added.
Source:
Reuters
According to NVIDIA, Intel sells an Atom processor typically for US $45 a piece, while in a bundle with Intel's own chipset consisting of an i945-class northbridge and ICH7-class southbridge for just $25, that's $25 for the processor and Intel chipset. This is driving away motherboard manufacturers from opting for Intel Atom paired with NVIDIA's single-package Ion chipset, which NVIDIA claims, (and reviews have shown,) to offer superior performance and features at almost half the board footprint. "That seems pretty unfair," Huang said. "We ought to be able to compete and serve that market."
Intel was quick to dismiss Huang's accusation. "We compete fairly. We do not force bundles on any computer makers and customers can purchase Atom individually or as part of the bundle," said Bill Calder, a spokesperson for Intel. "If you want to purchase the chip set, obviously there is better pricing." NVIDIA made it clear it doesn't have any immediate plans to lock onto Intel in (yet) another anti-competition case. "I hope it doesn't come down to that," Huang said. "We have to do whatever we have to do when the time comes. We really hope this company [Intel] will compete on a fair basis," he added.
92 Comments on NVIDIA Accuses Intel of Anti-Competitive Pricing for Atom Processor
AMD, no matter how low your stock goes I will never sell out. :rockout:
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edit-
Im not meaning to sound mean, and I am not being rude in my tone or anything like that... I just don't buy from a company as dishonest as this. AMD's management honestly thought that since the K8 architecture was A-LOT better than what Intel had that they wouldn't need to bribe anyone or make illegal rebate stipulations. Now we know why AMD's marketshare remained below 25% throughout that product dominance.
People may call me an AMD fanboy... how about this... I promote the company that treats its customers with respect and actually tries to look after its customers.
The people that consider me a fanboy are people that don't give a shit about others and consider lie'n to get ahead a good habit. (sure, a little white lie every now and then never hurts anyone) A 6 year lie and THEN having the audacity to STEAL a patent and think you could get away with it...
/end rant
1. Nvidia lacks a x86 liscense
2. Means less market exposure of the Ion
I want more Ion systems dammit. This is hurting us the consumer.
It seems to me they can't agree with anyone , unlles they make a profit from it and then all is good , we can't make profit then we fight dirty.
Now as for AMD. They don't depend mostly on marketing. They come out with a chip and hope for the best :p
The Atom CPU is $45, and the cr4ppy chipset is -$20 ($20 rebate)! I guess they have stock piles on stock piles of that chipset that no-one wants for a desktop mainboard... and they hope to palm it off on the economy Atom... This is clearly a case of chipdumping, just like the Asian's were accused of memory dumping and fined for that.
Intel will get into trouble again for that.
Intel needs to stop its cr@p and get with the program; users want good products. :shadedshu
Oh well, nothing new under the sun.
If Intel only sells the Atom with their chipset, it is their choice, not that of nVidia, or anyone else for that matter.
The problem is that Intel is charging $45 for the CPU, but charges only $25 if it includes the chipset as well.
Why would manufacturers buy the CPU + non-Intel chipset if they can get the Intel's chipset AND CPU for nearly half the price (or less)?
Why doesn't Intel make a price for the chipsets only? Are they afraid they won't sell?
EDITRead here: last paragraph.
you can't fine a company for wanting to offload a product for free. (or for giving a discount for a bundle) to me this says that intel is about to come out with something better and needs to get rid of the crappy stuff first that they have stockpiled.
I mean this is no different than disney offering a 5 day park hopper for the price of a 3 day. (or sometimes it's even cheaper than a 3-day if you watch for the deal). thats a discount for staying 2 more days. I'd imagine many companies will employ similar tactics during these hard economic times. see intel like disney knows that one product is already popular and will sell well on it's own (3 day hopper is the #1 bought for the disneyland/california adventure parks) so they offer discounts to puch a weaker product (5-day hopper) and increase it's sales to get more cutomer loyalty and a higher chance at return business.
it's called surviving tough economy 101.
Plus, if AMD comes out with something competitive (being that they own ati) intel will be forced to look to nvidia to compete. The potential irony is thick with this story."We gotta hit em" Who's we? Are you a stock holder of nvidia or amd? Why do you care so much? If you had a brain in your head, you'd realize that Intel is good for consumers since their competitive nature drives pricing down on anything they are competing with.
Seriously people, can we stop the mindless fanboy bs? It's one thing to prefer a company's product over another, it's another to throw logic and thought out the window all for the sake of looking like a loyalist.
I know I'm breaking Godwin's law here, but wasn't one of the reasons the Nazi's hated the Jews is because they did so well in business and commerce in a time when the country was hurting financially? Do you see the parallelism between the Nazi's and AMD fanboys? :pWhy does it cost more for a 10 count McNugget than it does for three 4 count dollar menu mcnuggets? It's all an incentive to move product.
Anti-competive actions like "dumping", "entry barring", "price limiting" and "coercive monopoly" are illegal as they breach anti-trust laws.
Atom+chipset rebate vs. Ion has features from all those.I think you, and many more in this thread need to attend "Economy 101".