Nvidia Seeing Design Wins For Ivy Bridge Platform

Following a meeting with Nvidia management this week, Raymond James analysts Hans Mosesmann and Brian Peterson say new chips should give the company a boost, despite worries about graphics processing.

At the core is this issue: will notebooks use chips that isolate graphics for fast performance. The folks at Raymond James say Nvidia (NVDA) is seeing “a material uptick in design win momentum” from the Ivy Bridge chip notebook platforms, which employ a discrete graphics processing unit (GPU) vs Sandy Bridge, a hybrid chip. And, they say graphic processing unit (GPU) attach rates will remain stable for the next several years.

“One of the more pervasive myths over the past decade regarding discrete GPUs relates to the attach-rate of these products in PCs. Given that integrated graphics has grown to a near 1-1 relationship in mainstream and low-end computing, the thought process is that discrete GPUs are destined to become obsolete. This is not the case.”

The rate of GPUs in PCs has stabilized at around 36% in the past 12 quarters, Mosesmann and Peterson said in a report today. This “may be counter-intuitive to investors given Intel��s (INTC) Sandy Bridge launch in 1Q11 that was supposed to eliminate the need for discrete GPUs. This is not the case.”

On the Android operating system and how it drives hardware purchases by equipment manufacturers:

“The main confusion comes from the notion that Google (GOOG) chooses or appoints a hardware reference design (there is no such thing) and the Google Experience Device (GED), which is basically an Android update the moment it is available (with no manufacturer modifications). Thus, it is not an endorsement from Google on a preferred hardware platform, but more a way for Google to showcase its newest software to the masses. Hence, we do not expect any meanin! gful shi fts in application processor market share as a result of ICS. Otherwise, how would it be that the Asus Transformer Prime will be sporting both Tegra 3 and ICS next month? Note that Tegra3 started to sample in 1Q11 and the current crop of OMAP wins likely pre-dated 1Q11.”