Nvidia exec says Intel hindering graphics

From CNET News.com: An Nvidia executive appearing on a local San Francisco TV show on Friday said that Intel is denying consumers the chance to use Nvidia chips, likely presaging more verbal sparring and future legal wrangling between the two chip giants.

In a video posted on Nvidia's Web site, Daniel Vivoli, a senior vice president at the graphics chip supplier, said in response to a question from a panelist on the show that consumers shouldn't be "denied the ability" to use lower-end Nvidia graphics technology.

Nvidia and Intel have been skirmishing since February 2009 when Intel claimed in a legal filing that an older chipset license agreement with Nvidia does not extend to Intel's future processor technologies, including the Core i series of processors. And Nvidia has countersued.

In effect, the Intel legal action is preventing Nvidia from building chipsets--which accompany the main processor--that attach to Intel "Nehalem" central processing units, or CPUs. On prior-generation Intel processors, Nvidia supplied graphics-oriented chipsets to some computer makers. For example, Apple used Nvidia chipsets across its previous generation of MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air laptops. (In the 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros announced on April 13, Apple uses "discrete" or standalone Nvidia GPUs that work with Intel chipsets.)

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