Nvidia CEO Not Above Celebrating Intel’s Misfortune [Memo]
A number of tech companies are rejoicing over the Federal Trade Commission’s complaint against Intel today, none more so than Nvidia.
A top player in the market for graphics processing units, Nvidia stands to gain quite a bit from the FTC lawsuit, which will obviously undermine Intel’s (INTC) efforts to extend its monopoly into the GPU market. In an all-hands memo to employees, Nvidia CEO Jen Hsun Huang explained just how important the FTC’s action is to Nvidia (NVDA) and the GPU market.
Huang’s memo, in full, below:
The U.S. government announced today that it has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Intel. This is an action the industry needs and one that consumers deserve. And it’s one that can completely transform the computer industry.
The facts are clear. The FTC has charged that Intel has used its monopoly illegally to stifle innovation, to keep prices for their products inflated, and to unfairly block competitors. The FTC believes that millions of consumers have paid more and received less quality in return–and that companies and their employees have been forced out of markets where Intel has been threatened.
Intel is fully aware that great graphics have become one of the most important features for consumer PCs, the fastest-growing segment of the PC market. Even more alarming to Intel is the revolutionary parallel computing technology in our GPUs that is being adopted by software developers across the world. The more successful we became, the bigger threat we were to Intel’s monopoly. Instead of creating competitive GPU solutions and competing on the merits of their products, Intel has resorted to unlawful acts to stop us. The FTC announced today that this isn’t acceptable.
Nothing this complicated gets decided quickly. It will take months for the FTC case to be heard by an administrative judge who will then recommend a ruling back to the FTC. And it’s possible that this decision could be appealed. But today is a huge step forward for all of us that will begin to re-level the playing field.
Today’s FTC announcement highlights the industry-changing impact of the GPU and the importance of our work. Our innovation is making the PC magical and amazing again. I can now imagine the day when Intel can no longer block consumers from enjoying our creation and experience computing in a way we know is possible.
