From the Nvidia conference call (Q1 FY2011):

[Idontcare]

My local computer supply shop, which has a huge aisle of video cards,both red and green provided an interesting answer when I asked how many GTX480s they had sold since launch.
As of Monday 14th,they've sold 3.
There has been no "selling out".

My local computer store told me they sold 1,576 cards in the past 2 weeks. I live in a area where most can afford air conditioning, the extra 3$ a month to run them ,and the cards themselves.

Your local store must be in the getto?

This is a made up story.

I believe that was the point...whether claiming you know somebody who knows somebody that claims only 3 were sold or egads a bajillion gazillion were sold in all cases these are simply claims on teh intarwebz that don't mean jack.

Ben hit the nail on the head.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Looks like we should expect bankruptcy in the next few weeks. Obviously the Fermi debacle killed them, only $2.7Billion in liquid assets/early debt pay downs and profiting a million dollars a day..... they really should have listened to the staggering intellects here on the AT forums, they could have helped prevent them from suffering this painful demise

-NV is doing good and making plenty of money, and anyone who denies that has his head in the clouds. Its just that those of us "in the trenches" don't think they're making those soaring profits off their GTX4xx consumer line of cards, the money is coming from elsewhere.

 

[Lonyo]

-NV is doing good and making plenty of money, and anyone who denies that has his head in the clouds. Its just that those of us "in the trenches" don't think they're making those soaring profits off their GTX4xx consumer line of cards, the money is coming from elsewhere.

Part of the reason I didn't include financials and didn't in AMD notes is because for the consumer they should be irrelevant, possibly beyond the ability for companies to keep going and making new cards in the future.

As long as both companies can make money, it shouldn't matter to the end user who is buying cards.
Where margins (specifically, not profits) and focus do matter is when it comes to future products. NV are probably going to look to make sure this and all future architectures keep pushing them forward in the HPC and high end market, which may be to the detriment of consumer cards in many ways in the short term (such as more transistors, higher power etc), but in the long term who knows for sure.

The reasoning behind NVs design decisions have always been solid and the negative impact it has on consumer cards despite being bad in some ways for us (consumers) is obviously very good for the company as a whole.

 

[SirPauly]

Margins were impressive and seems there is a lot of margin potential left in future quarters according to nVidia.

 

[badb0y]

Lol at people arguing corporate finances in this thread.

When nVidia or ATi send you a check let me know.

 

[waffleironhead]

Lol at people arguing corporate finances in this thread.

When nVidia or ATi send you a check let me know.

some of us a stock holders.

 

[Acanthus]

Oh shit... lol front page financial news today.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nv...than-expected-outlook-2010-05-14?siteid=yhoof

 

[brybir]

From the Wall Street Journal Article Linked:

"We remain concerned with management's expectations for a seasonal revenue decline in July, when there are several new product cycles ramping, capacity is easing, inventory is increasing and GPU [graphics process unit] demand remains robust," Needham analyst Rajvindra Gill said in a note."


I think this is the non-fanboy way of saying what many here are wondering about, namely, is nVidia making money on Fermi, or, as some have stated, is the money coming from other products (high end etc).

Seems to me that people in this thread are fixated on the one product (Fermi consumer edition) and when thats doing poorly (relatively anyways) they assume the whole company is going down.

I am almost positive in 6 months we will look back and Fermi is going to look like ATI's 2900 series launch but all in all things will remain competitive and the world will keep on turning.

 

[Acanthus]

I think Fermi will be fantastic with a die shrink.

It's just a massive chip.

 

[lopri]

I think Fermi will be fantastic with a die shrink.

It's just a massive chip.

I tend to agree with that. Problem is it's hard to know when the 2nd or 3rd iteration of Fermi will arrive. This is a downside of fabless business model - you don't control your own fate. It took a long time before TSMC ironed out its 40nm process, and god knows when the next node will be ready? Will it be a smooth transition?

On the other hand, drastically redesigned Fermi (still @40nm) may be a possibility. For example, on the CPU side, AMD went from X4 to X6 (x1.5 transistor counts) and kept the same thermal envelope. So NV may be able to do something similar.

 

[MrK6]

I tend to agree with that. Problem is it's hard to know when the 2nd or 3rd iteration of Fermi will arrive. This is a downside of fabless business model - you don't control your own fate. It took a long time before TSMC ironed out its 40nm process, and god knows when the next node will be ready? Will it be a smooth transition?

On the other hand, drastically redesigned Fermi (still @40nm) may be a possibility. For example, on the CPU side, AMD went from X4 to X6 (x1.5 transistor counts) and kept the same thermal envelope. So NV may be able to do something similar.

I was thinking it would have to be the inverse, where they would keep the same performance but cut the power usage. Something like the HD 2900 XT -> HD 3870. The only problem is AMD was helped immensely doing this by going from 80nm -> 55nm, and NVIDIA doesn't have a die shrink option (yet).

And yeah, NVIDIA's stock took a beating today (currently -13.5%), but the whole market was slammed pretty hard today anyway.

 

[shangshang]

I'm a little amuse at this forum sometimes.

Seriously, why do you people even bother to post financial stuff on a technical forum every quarter. Hello.... if i want to know the finanacial, I can just go to the SEC site myself and find out. I wouldn't want to read all the foolish spins in here, from both camps.

You fanboys are ruining it for everyone.
You fanboys should stop pretending you know something about a spreadsheet or a balance sheet. Stop with your financial analysis BS.

Just stick with the technical, or talk like you know the technical.

Well it is amusing to find the ATI fanboys posting the NV finanancial and then some other ATI fanboys would make some negative spin on it. Then watch the rabid NV fanboys and even a Mod who's an NV focus group swoop in for the feast. Well i got my cheap laugh and giggle already. Now it's getting real old, every quarter, rinse & repeat. Pathetic. I don't know why i even bother writing this post. But you boys are dragging me to new low.... to the point where I actually I enjoy Tweakboy's silly posts more than you fanboy-expert-bs-markerter!

 

[MrK6]

I'm a little amuse at this forum sometimes.

Seriously, why do you people even bother to post financial stuff on a technical forum every quarter. Hello.... if i want to know the finanacial, I can just go to the SEC site myself and find out. I wouldn't want to read all the foolish spins in here, from both camps.

You fanboys are ruining it for everyone.
You fanboys should stop pretending you know something about a spreadsheet or a balance sheet. Stop with your financial analysis BS.

Just stick with the technical, or talk like you know the technical.

Well it is amusing to find the ATI fanboys posting the NV finanancial and then some other ATI fanboys would make some negative spin on it. Then watch the rabid NV fanboys and even a Mod who's an NV focus group swoop in for the feast. Well i got my cheap laugh and giggle already. Now it's getting real old, every quarter, rinse & repeat. Pathetic. I don't know why i even bother writing this post. But you boys are dragging me to new low.... to the point where I actually I enjoy Tweakboy's silly posts more than you fanboy-expert-bs-markerter!

Tissue?

 

[TonyB]

I'm a little amuse at this forum sometimes.

Seriously, why do you people even bother to post financial stuff on a technical forum every quarter. Hello.... if i want to know the finanacial, I can just go to the SEC site myself and find out. I wouldn't want to read all the foolish spins in here, from both camps.

You fanboys are ruining it for everyone.
You fanboys should stop pretending you know something about a spreadsheet or a balance sheet. Stop with your financial analysis BS.

Just stick with the technical, or talk like you know the technical.

Well it is amusing to find the ATI fanboys posting the NV finanancial and then some other ATI fanboys would make some negative spin on it. Then watch the rabid NV fanboys and even a Mod who's an NV focus group swoop in for the feast. Well i got my cheap laugh and giggle already. Now it's getting real old, every quarter, rinse & repeat. Pathetic. I don't know why i even bother writing this post. But you boys are dragging me to new low.... to the point where I actually I enjoy Tweakboy's silly posts more than you fanboy-expert-bs-markerter!

I thought it was a known fact that every Anandtech Forum poster has an MBA degree from Wharton.

 

[tviceman]

Somebody posts good news about Nvidia, and someone else says it can't be true.


Imagine that.

 

[Idontcare]

Tissue?

lol! that was good

Somewhere on tah intarwebz someone went "wah!"...and in response there was a collective "meh..."

 

[Lonyo]

I missed the part where the OP was financial results which are from the SEC filing, where there was a spreadsheet or balance sheet.

As far as I know, it's a summary of the points raised at the conference call which was related to, but not specifically about, the financial results, and mainly discussed the products and the future. Hell, I even skipped all the specifics about which business earned most of the money (apart from Tesla and Quadro being high margin).

And also there was no analysis, just a summary of points which NV themselves said.


But if that's what counts as financial analysis, then I should apply for a job as a financial analyst, because apparently you don't need to consider any numbers at all. Or even do any analysing.

 

[blanketyblank]

Somebody posts good news about Nvidia, and someone else says it can't be true.


Imagine that.

You and a few others are taking that poster's comment out of context. He is not claiming the OP's post was untrue, but Happy_Medium's post that his local store sold 1576 units in 2 weeks was "made up". Honestly I can't blame him since it's hard to imagine a local store stocking 1576 video cards let alone Fermi cards. I'd consider a local store having 100 Fermi cards to be extremely well stocked.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Hmm according to this, they've shipped alot more than the 10000 figure number.

link

An independent analyst has confirmed that Nvidia Corp., a leading supplier of graphics and multimedia chips, has shipped hundreds of thousands Fermi-generation graphics processors. According to Jon Peddie, the head of Jon Peddie Research, Nvidia so far has shipped 400 thousand Fermi-generation chips.

“My estimate is Nvidia has shipped over 400 thousand [Fermi processors] as Tesla and Gefore units. The shipment numbers ‘to date’. Nvidia shipped a lot to OEMs, loads of Tesla versions since the announcement in Boston in March,” said Jon Peddie in a conversation with X-bit labs.

Earlier high-ranking Nvidia executives said that the company had shipped hundreds of thousands Fermi-class graphics processors. At present those chips are all based on the code-named GF100 (NV60, GT300) design, which is so complex that many analyst estimated that the yields of such chips was between 20% and 30%. Nvidia claims that its yields were higher than expected.

“Yields of our high-end, Fermi-based GPUs were much higher than expected, leading to good availability of our new GeForce GTX 480 and 470 GPUs and Tesla high-performance computing products,” said David White, chief financial officer of Nvidia, during the latest quarterly conference call with analysts.

Analyst Jon Peddie claims that the problems with yields are over for Nvidia. It has to be noted that in order to achieve those yields, Nvidia had to cut down the number of GF100’s stream processors from 512 to 480 on GeForce GTX 480 graphics board and to 448 on GeForce GTX 470 and Tesla C2050 add-in-cards.

“I think most of Nvidia's problems are behind and they are back on track. You will see a whole slew of derivative products in the next few months,” said Mr. Peddie.

Even though Nvidia celebrates the vast amount of Fermi-class graphics chips shipped, many questions regarding business side of the achievement remain. The GF100 – in both GeForce and Tesla versions – is by any definition a premium product, which drives up revenues, profits and margins. Nevertheless, it does not look that Fermi was actually a breakthrough for the company’s business.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2011 Nvidia posted 2% quarter-over-quarter revenue growth as well as 0.9% gross margin growth. The company recorded net income of $137.6 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, for the Q1 FY2011, compared to $131.1 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, in the Q4 FY2010. The company indicated that during the first quarter if fiscal 2011 the GPU business was flat, Quadro business was on the rise (there are no Fermi-based Quadro at the moment) and Tesla business achieved record revenue.

As it can be observed, despite of shipping around 400 thousand premium GF100 graphics processors, the company did not see any tangible improvements either in profitability or margins. Obviously, Nvidia is losing chipset market share rapidly and throughout the whole Q1 FY2011 it probably has been losing share on the market of discrete graphics processors. As a result, the GF100 chip as well as increasing sales of high-margin Nvidia Quadro solutions helped Nvidia to offset declines in the core-logic and GPU businesses in terms of revenue, however, it does not look like the company managed to earn a lot more than in the previous quarter.

 

[SlowSpyder]

One thing I have to wonder about in regards to all of these shipped units is if they are counting GTX460/465 parts as well? No doubt Nvidia has stockpiled a large number of parts that didn't make it for GTX470's and GTX480's.

I thought back before Fermi's launch Nvidia sort of quietly mentioned that they switched their 40nm production over to focusing on Fermi parts. They bought a lot of wafers, at that point they were making GT240's and lower parts for OEM's. They knew they had a lot of catching up to do and said that Fermi would be ramping up quickly.

I am a little suspicious about these 'much higher' yields though. I would think if yields were truly that wonderful we'd hear about a 512SP part by now. We all know their stated 250 watt TDP is on the optimistic side as some reviewers have approached 300 watts. So Nvidia seems to basically be saying that they'll label the parts where they need to be to meet the PCIE spec, but the numbers are fudged in reality. Where I'm gonig with this is, if yields are 'much higher' than expected and Nvidia seems to have more or less said they don't care about power use, why isn't there a 512SP part? Will there be a 512SP part on 40nm?

I guess that could be the other side of the coin regarding the 512 SP part, that it won't exist (I'm not saying it won't, just mentioning it for the sake of discussion). If Nvidia knows that it won't catch the 5970 with a 512SP part and their current GTX480 is already above the 5870 in performance and price, I wonder if they'd even bother with a 512SP GeForce.

 

[Idontcare]

I guess that could be the other side of the coin regarding the 512 SP part, that it won't exist (I'm not saying it won't, just mentioning it for the sake of discussion). If Nvidia knows that it won't catch the 5970 with a 512SP part and their current GTX480 is already above the 5870 in performance and price, I wonder if they'd even bother with a 512SP GeForce.

That would be my guess Steve, given that NV clearly knows how to turn product and hit gross margins (going by the OP) it would be of no surprise if the same smart guys in accounting and marketing pulled their demographics data and concluded the higher costing and higher asp part would not necessarily move them closer to their internal goals with the business efficiency (resource management) they are after.

This has little to do with yields and everything to do with maximizing profits and margins. Sure piss poor yields reduces their flexibility and options but eliminating those bottlenecks doesn't mean it is suddenly in their best financial interests (or their AIB partners) to open up yet another top-end SKU.
-Phil

 

[extra]

Looks like we should expect bankruptcy in the next few weeks. Obviously the Fermi debacle killed them, only $2.7Billion in liquid assets/early debt pay downs and profiting a million dollars a day..... they really should have listened to the staggering intellects here on the AT forums, they could have helped prevent them from suffering this painful demise

Hahahahaha +1.

Yeah. Nvidia didn't execute very well, BUT they still managed to do okay. And they have a good architecture that they can base future products off of. They aren't going anywhere.

The challenge for them will be to get products based on Fermi down to the lower price points. They need to work on their execution, for sure. They need dx11 parts down under $200. if they don't have any by August, I think we'll have a problem--but even if that doesn't happen they aren't going to disappear or anything.

As a consumer, I do think that Nvidia having the delays and such that they've had *may* actually benefit us in the long run because it let ATI catch up a bit in market share. I want Nvidia and ATI to each have approx 50% of the discrete GPU market.

I know we have people here who really love Nvidia and hate ATI, or love ATI and hate Nvidia, whatever.... but ask yourself this. If your favorite company wins and the other one goes away....are you going to be happy the exorbitant prices that your favorite company will be charging if they don't have any competition? If you love ATI or Nvidia stuff, you should be wishing for their competitor to do reasonably well so that you can, you know, afford the cards from the company you like . IMHO!

 

[Meghan54]

My local computer store told me they sold 1,576 cards in the past 2 weeks. I live in a area where most can afford air conditioning, the extra 3$ a month to run them ,and the cards themselves.

Your local store must be in the getto?

This is a made up story.

So true, Sylvanas. It's sad when happy just has to outright lie just for attention.

Can you seriously imagine any "local" computer store selling over 100 video cards each and every day for two weeks? That's Newegg territory and I'd imagine even Newegg doesn't quite move that much product daily, just in video cards.

Of course, the implication by happy was Fermi, and that's just utter nonsense. But even expanding the range to include all video cards of all brands/types/etc., 100/day every day is just stupid.

Maybe if he were referring to Fry's corporate sales....but even then, I'd doubt that, too.


Why some children around here just have to make crap up to sound important I don't know.....but then again, happy is a good source of chuckles.

And I really wish some would quit hammering on Keys....I don't understand why some think it's fine to personally attack a respected member like Keys. Just childish.

 

[happy medium]

I believe that was the point...whether claiming you know somebody who knows somebody that claims only 3 were sold or egads a bajillion gazillion were sold in all cases these are simply claims on teh intarwebz that don't mean jack.

Ben hit the nail on the head.

Mr. Idontcare, Thanks for being the only one smart enough to see why I said what I said. Bravo.

 

[imaheadcase]

No one actually read the article i see.

They are selling really well in China. Nvidia has a HUGE grasp on china. From what I hear from my overseas friends that is what everyone buys.