Intel May Acquire Graphics Chip Maker Nvidia

[marauder16]

I was like WTF?! :eek: :shocked: read on, link (http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/display/20061005003056.html)

I mean what is going on, well I expected this but ot really? Comments?


Reuters news-agency has reported that Intel Corp. may acquire graphics chip designer Nvidia Corp. The announcement may be made in less than 24 hours from now, it is claimed. Sources of the unofficial information could not be determined.

“There is speculation that Intel will make an acquisition announcement tonight,” said Bill Lefkowitz, options strategist at brokerage firm vFinance Investments in New York.

Terms of the possible deal are unclear. Nvidia’s market capitalization is currently nearly $11 billion, which means that the company may be sold for $14 – $15 billion, whereas Intel Corp. only has $7.64 billion in cash currently.

Rumours about possibility of Nvidia acquisition by Intel Corp. have been circuilating since July, when Nvidia rival ATI Technologies announced take over by Advanced Micro Devices, the arch-rival of Intel, for $5.4 billion.

Neither Intel Corp., nor Nvidia Corp. commented on the news-story.

[Ub3r-L33ch]

I was like WTF?! :eek: :shocked: read on, link (http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/display/20061005003056.html)

I mean what is going on, well I expected this but ot really? Comments?

I hope not, I hate intel and I love nVidia.

P.S. - you liked that message of mine huh? lol :)

[marauder16]

I hope not, I hate intel and I love nVidia.

P.S. - you liked that message of mine huh? lol :)
Give this man a drink! :toast: :D (that was on your comment of the article) And yes I liked your post that much, I had to put it in my sig :D

Another source: http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34873


THE HOT RUMOUR of yesterday was that Intel is buying Nvidia, some said last night, other said $37.

Digging in, no one had anything more concrete than a friend of a friend of my uncle's barber's nephew heard something.

The "deal" makes no sense to me, from products to antitrust to price, and there is little to recommend it. On top of that, the personalities and cultures involved go together like rabid weasels and sensitive body parts, nothing you would like in the same rough area of space at the same time.

The final nail in this particular coffin was people who should be on edge, working late and twitching when the phone rang were not doing any of those things. It was calm and peaceful in Silicon Valley yesterday. My guess it thumbs down on this one, but every time I say something like that, it happens. Whatever the case, I vote no here. And no, I am not wearing another rabbit outfit. µ

[milkcafe]

I hope they make the CPU and GPU into one chip @ 0.9w

like the AMD Geode™ LX 800MHz @ 0.9W

EX.
(SONY VAIO VGN-UX50 laptop)
the core 2 sole 1.06GHz and GMA950 can run CS1.6 smoothly and playstation simulator well
and the system is only 13W


right ?

that's what we need

when can we play BF2 , F.E.A.R in the 13w system smoothly ???

[trakslacker]

Marauder, did you even read your "source"? The Inq article is stating that the merger won't happen.

I can tell you right now that there is *almost* no chance of this happening. Jen-Hsun Huang, Nvidia's CEO, is fiercely protective of his company, and I doubt seriously that he would allow the company to be bought out or merged. Also, Intel has better things to do with thier money and I'm guessing they don't want to deal with the spate of antitrust issues that would follow with a move like this, especially in light of the recent negative press they've gotten from AMDs accusations.

Just my .02

[Kanavit]

oh no! the news made it to Xbitlabs! this does not bode well at all for nvidia. i really hope not, i'm looking foward to 8800 GTX and DX10.

[Starscream]

lets all join in prayer that Intel wont buy Nvidia.

but like said how will they do it cause together theyd own to big of a share of the chipset market.
On the other side im shure Intle wants to have a name for its grafix cards and Geforce is a strong name.

[Ub3r-L33ch]

I doubt very seriously even a single person on this forum could accurately predict how anything like this would turn out. Not only is this kind of thing usually a rumor but when there really is talks of stuff happening in the business world almost none of us could even come close to what might happen.

[NoX]

Intel can't buy Nvidia simply because it doesn't have enough cash to afford it and an exchange of shares would be an option that Nvidia would reject right away. :fact:
Intel is also going through reorganization and a move like that would seriously piss off its shareholders. ;)

[marauder16]

@trakslacker I just posted another news about this topic

I also hope this won't happen, I can't say how much money Intel has, or how much does that Huang guy love his company, I can just say that nvidia is too good to be ruined by Intel :( but I'm afraid cause the news appeared on so many sites, well we'll now the answer tomorrow (according to x-bit) I hope there will be no buy, just my 2 cents...

[DilTech]

NVidia Graphics marketshare + Intel graphics marketshare = Monopoly
NVidia Chipset marketshare + Intel chipset marketshare = Monopoly

It's that simple, it CANNOT happen, the FTC would never allow it.

[Vassili]

Intel can't buy Nvidia simply because it doesn't have enough cash to afford it and an exchange of shares would be an option that Nvidia would reject right away. :fact:
Intel is also going through reorganization and a move like that would seriously piss off its shareholders. ;)
AMD didn't have enough money for ATI...

[trakslacker]

NVidia Graphics marketshare + Intel graphics marketshare = Monopoly
NVidia Chipset marketshare + Intel chipset marketshare = Monopoly

It's that simple, it CANNOT happen, the FTC would never allow it.

EXACTLY.

Why is this so difficult for people to understand? Antitrust accusations are not fun for a company. Intel is smart enough to realize that this move cannot happen. Even if they announced it, any type of buyout/merger involving these two companies would never be approved.

If you think AMD has been hollering loudly about Intel's antitrust practices in the processor market, DAAMIT would take things to a whole new level is this move were to be attempted. The difference is that the government would take action on this.

[DilTech]

Same reason Intel couldn't place a counter-bid on ATi.

AMD was able to buy ATi because AMD doesn't have a chipset or gpu marketshare, at all... All that buy-out did was give them marketshare in areas that they didn't already have it in.

This move literally just couldn't work from a LEGAL standpoint.

[highoctane]

A monopoly as far as I know means only one seller having total control, AMD/ATI have a chunk and Intel/Nvidia would have a chunk, thats not really a monopoly.

There are the smaller companies like 3dlabs & matrox for video cards and via & sis for chipsets still out there.

Intel/Nvidia, maybe a oligopoly...

Anyways I remember the whole AMD/ATI fiasco merger starting with the same acceptance by everyone, you never know in business.

[onewingedangel]

I don't understand how integrated and discrete graphics should count as the same market - obviously amd has the advantage on the graphics front after the ati buyout - surely intel would be allowed to compete on discrete graphics - as the amd integrated chipsets would use ati graphics and the intel nvidia.

I'm sure intel would have loved to buy AMD, but the FTC would not have allowed it. But with AMD's buyout of ATi surely the rules of the game have changed. Intel has o% marketshare on discrete graphics, and their integrated marketshare is limited to those chipsets that complement their processor sales. AMD will use ATi chipsets to complement their platforms, and obviously at the moment their graphics tech far outweighs intels thanks to ATi.

I'd suspect intel are more likely to licence nvidia's graphics tech for use in their chipsets/cpu's. - This is less likely to trouble the FTC, and would allow intel time to develop their own graphics technologies, the amd/ati relationship to become more and more exclusive and interconected, and nvidia's value to adjust (most likely fall). A few years down the line Intel would have the option to buy nvidia (at a time where the FTC are less likely to challenge the move), or utilise their own technology.

[NoX]

AMD didn't have enough money for ATI...

Indeed, and they had to use shares of AMD common stock.

[Piotrsama]

AMD didn't have enough money for ATI...
No, that's why he also said:

and an exchange of shares would be an option that Nvidia would reject right away

Ati did not reject it.
:p:

[ChongL]

I dont think it'll happen...

[thephenom]

Makes no sense at all, Intel's chipset business is going as strong as ever, the only positive Intel will get out of Nvidia is the huge discrete business.

For AMD to buy ATI, they gain chipsets, GPU market and more important, consumer electronics from ATI's Imageon on the handheld and Xilleon on Digital TV. Those ATI consumer electronic chips can help AMD push their process into the consumer electronics market.

[situman]

Same reason Intel couldn't place a counter-bid on ATi.

AMD was able to buy ATi because AMD doesn't have a chipset or gpu marketshare, at all... All that buy-out did was give them marketshare in areas that they didn't already have it in.

This move literally just couldn't work from a LEGAL standpoint.


If Intel does acquire Nvidia, all they have to do is stop their own internal development of chipsets and graphics chips. AMD once developed chipsets for their chips too if anyone remembered. If AMD can use the excuse they only acquired what they don't have, Intel can use the same reasoning. The acquisition will not change the relative size of both AMD and Intel by all that much since ATI and Nvidia are similarly sized companies, correct me if I am wrong.

If this move doesn't go through, I think Intel can acquire 3DLabs and create some powerful desktop graphics chips and instant intellectual property in the professional graphics area. With Intel's resource, imagine what 3DLabs can accomplish. Hell, even Matrox would be a good buy.

[DilTech]

I don't understand how integrated and discrete graphics should count as the same market - obviously amd has the advantage on the graphics front after the ati buyout - surely intel would be allowed to compete on discrete graphics - as the amd integrated chipsets would use ati graphics and the intel nvidia.

I'm sure intel would have loved to buy AMD, but the FTC would not have allowed it. But with AMD's buyout of ATi surely the rules of the game have changed. Intel has o% marketshare on discrete graphics, and their integrated marketshare is limited to those chipsets that complement their processor sales. AMD will use ATi chipsets to complement their platforms, and obviously at the moment their graphics tech far outweighs intels thanks to ATi.

I'd suspect intel are more likely to licence nvidia's graphics tech for use in their chipsets/cpu's. - This is less likely to trouble the FTC, and would allow intel time to develop their own graphics technologies, the amd/ati relationship to become more and more exclusive and interconected, and nvidia's value to adjust (most likely fall). A few years down the line Intel would have the option to buy nvidia (at a time where the FTC are less likely to challenge the move), or utilise their own technology.

Discrete and integrated are considered the same market. Graphics are graphics regardless of if they're integrated or discrete.

[turbox997]

AND THERE WE HAVE IT FOLKS!!!

My goodness, talk about Blitzkrieg! We all discussed it last night when it was a "rumour" and now we may see it come to fruit...I'm not too enthusiastic about it, even though I do own both of their stock...and I will benefit from it..I am still not thrilled, I hope this does not lead to the beginning of the "end" of high end graphic gaming cards....

edit: "anything can happen..." I will await this news later tonight, unfortunately I'll be driving long distance tonight and will have access to a computer until late. It will be interesting to see what happens.

[Starscream]

@Nox
money wouldnt be a problem as Intel could loan money to finance it but ofc that would be a thing shareholders would dislike.
Intel would need a good reason to buy Nvidia wich the shareholders will swallow wich they dont have.

@highoctane
Monopoly doesnt mean having complete controll but having a marketshare that is so big that you control the market and dominate it and in the chipset market this would be the case if Intel buys Nvidia.
Think about it Intel wont give ATi a new license for FSB so if Intel buys Nvidia ud have Intel/nvidia for Intel chipsets as Via and Sis dont really stand a chance at market share.
further Intel has alot of fabs, if Intel buys Nvidia Intel would quickly be able to let Nvidia make their GPus in Intel fabs.

and an oligopoly is having 2 equally big partys on a market that dominate it and Intel/Nvidia isnt equal to AMD/ATI in any market.

[rozzyroz]

when i first heard about amd buying ati, i figured that if the purchase wasnt a coop between amd and nvidia, that nvidia and intel would be in bed together.

i could accept this just as much as i could accept amd buying ati.

with amd owning ati, they vitually cut intels high-end graphics options in half. intel buying nvidia would just return the favor, but in a bigger way, imho.

however, i doubt this will happen.

[514y3r]

Intel can't buy Nvidia simply because it doesn't have enough cash to afford it and an exchange of shares would be an option that Nvidia would reject right away. :fact:
Intel is also going through reorganization and a move like that would seriously piss off its shareholders. ;)

Even though they dont have the money upfront, they can always take out a shareholder approved loan, which is a quite common thing when a big fish company doesnt quite have the loot to buy out another big fish company. It sounds crazy but I'm quite optomistic about this happening.

[[cTx]Philosophy]

I knew this was coming, but honestly it wil never fly..

Intel and ATI had good relations, look @ CF boards..

Now this is just a ploy @ AMD because of their purchase..

Intel doesnt even have decent support for SLI, why would nvidia go to a company that has been derectly ignoring their technology for such a long time..

[[TAG]Imp]

uh... u act like intel has been saying no to SLI.... it's the other way around.

[Kanavit]

Intel, " if you can't beat 'em, buy 'em!

edit: well, xbitlabs already have this up on thier website, so it's pretty much very possible that this intel/nvidia acquisition will occur. The government did let microsoft buy nintendo. didnt' they? i thought that was a monopoly.

[DilTech]

Microsoft didn't buy nintendo...Nintendo is it's own company. If microsoft bought nintendo, there wouldn't be a Wii coming up.

[turbox997]

no announcements yet?

[NO1B4ME]

no announcements yet?


we are all waiting.

[perkam]

Looks like AMD got a bargain...Intel/Nv will be a problem with competition regulators.

Perkam

[NoX]

Yahoo Finance


1. The CEO and CFO of Nvidia sold together more than $12M worth of NVDA shares. Would they have been aware of the transaction; they would not have sold their shares.

2. If Intel tries to buy Nvidia, the combined entity would have more then 50 percent of the graphics-chip market, so the Federal Trade Commission may not approve, said by Naser Iqbal, analyst with Vancouver, British Columbia-based Salman Partners Inc.

3. Intel just restructured and have spent and will spend few hundreds million dollars on reorganizing and laying off people. Shareholders of Intel are not going to approve the way management is using cash flow.

5. Intel has their own business group building chips and it's doing quite fine. They are not going to buy NVDA and spend their cash flow on something that is only a niche market at a price of $35 when they could have done this when NVDA was at $18.

Beside the fact that I would like to watch an epic clash between AMD/ATI and INTEL/NVIDIA, I can't think of any logical reason ($$$) to justify a merger like this one.