Nvidia tries to sell itself

Road to victory has potholes

Jun 1, 2009 by

THE WORD ON the grapevine at Computex is that Nvidia has been quietly shopping itself around for sale. A company that declined the privilege confirmed to SemiAccurate that the long whispered rumors were true.

A few years ago, the story goes that Intel was offered the generous chance to buy Nvidia, but declined. It is said that there was one price if Jen-Hsun ran the combined entity, and another much higher price, if he didn’t. Intel wisely declined to partake in either scenario for reasons likely unfathomable to the Nvidia top brass. This time around, you have to wonder if the opposite isn’t true.

If you ask the company, they will say they are poised on the verge of victory. They may not have a DX11 part until after the back to school season, Windows 7 launch, and Christmas, but ahead to victory! Chipsets will save them, just ask the company, but don’t include any pesky questions about what a chipset will be next year.

In any case, there are two reasons to shop a company around, the owner wanting to cash out and retire, or they see the writing on the wall and want to get some money before the four horsemen of impending economic malaise ride into town. In this case, it is pretty obvious which scenario is playing out.

Nvidia is facing down at least three lawsuits that we are aware of, has a chipset business that won’t exist in a little over a year, and a few quarters of very rough sales for GPUs ahead. One could speculate that management sees what is coming and wants to cash out while the corporate net value is still colored black.

If the rumors are to be believed, the interest shown by potential suitors is not all that high. Unfortunately for Nvidia, anyone looking at current events, much less doing due diligence, will also see the same writing on the wall. Things are looking mighty grim in ol’ Santa Clara.S|A

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Charlie Demerjian

Roving engine of chaos and snide remarks at SemiAccurate
Charlie Demerjian is the founder of Stone Arch Networking Services and SemiAccurate.com. SemiAccurate.com is a technology news site; addressing hardware design, software selection, customization, securing and maintenance, with over one million views per month. He is a technologist and analyst specializing in semiconductors, system and network architecture. As head writer of SemiAccurate.com, he regularly advises writers, analysts, and industry executives on technical matters and long lead industry trends. Charlie is also available through Guidepoint and Mosaic. FullyAccurate