nVidia CEO: We are a software company

[thilanliyan]

http://en.expreview.com/2009/1...-software-company.html

 

[cbn]

Good article.

?2/3 of our revenue come from games but 2/3 of our profit comes from Quadro workstations?"

This probably explains why Nvidia likes making Bigger GPUs than ATI.....it makes sense to me graphics professionals would be inclined to pay higher premiums for faster performance (although I personally know nothing about the graphics business other than hearing Billing hours are expensive)

Which puts both AMD and ATI essentially in the lower profit hardware business right?

 

[Idontcare]

I get a dejavu sensation when reading that, like IBM and the 1990's all over again.

 

[Wreckage]

Here is the full interview for those who don't want to just focus/speculate on 1 small part of it.
http://www.chw.net/2009/10/chw...a-a-jen-hsun-huang/2/#

 

[nitromullet]

Well, it has a better ring to it than:

"NVIDIA is an integrated complete visual computing and parallel computing solution technology company? said Jen-Hsun Huang, Chief Executive Officer of NVIDIA, in an interview with CHW website.

 

[Barfo]

Originally posted by: Wreckage
Here is the full interview for those who don't want to just focus/speculate on 1 small part of it.
http://www.chw.net/2009/10/chw...a-a-jen-hsun-huang/2/#

That's gotta be a joke, coming from you.

 

[allies]

bloops.

 

[bryanW1995]

Originally posted by: Barfo

Originally posted by: Wreckage
Here is the full interview for those who don't want to just focus/speculate on 1 small part of it.
http://www.chw.net/2009/10/chw...a-a-jen-hsun-huang/2/#

That's gotta be a joke, coming from you.

he is very good at focusing on one small part of something and then speculating on how that justifys his preconceived notions, so he certainly doesn't want anybody else to use that trick.


btw, wreckage's link was very good. Huang is a badass mofo, it's hardly surprising that he ran everyone else out of business. And don't say that ati is still kicking ass, b/c they were on the ropes when amd bought them.

 

[akugami]

As much as I don't like Wreckage for his shenanigans, that was a great link.

I agree with a lot of what Huang was saying and where he is coming from. Very good read if you're interested in that type of stuff.

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: Wreckage
Here is the full interview for those who don't want to just focus/speculate on 1 small part of it.
http://www.chw.net/2009/10/chw...a-a-jen-hsun-huang/2/#

That is a good link!

The full interview is interesting, and it definitely puts his puzzling quote back into context. Jen-Hsun Huang is definitely outspoken on his company's philosophy, and everything else for that matter. He's also the #1 Nvidia Zealot, pouring a big glass of haterade on everything not Nvidia - Intel's Nvidia-esque chipset strategy, the Lucid Hydra chip, etc.
-----------

His comparison to Apple on being a software company in the guise of a hardware company is interesting but definitely not a great example to compare Nvidia with (at least not Nvidia today). First of all, Apple was considered a software company that makes money on hardware because of software like Mac OS X, iTunes, the simpe and easy to use iPhone interface, etc. Traditionally their big innovations are in software.

But then again, this trend has completely changed of late. What are Apple's big innovations of the past 5+ years? Their big innovations are things like the iPhone and iPod, as well as things like Apple TV that haven't really hit it big. Apple's other big innovations are now hardware design innovations, like the Macbook, Macbook Pro and Macbook Air, the iMac, etc.


Nvidia is overwhelmingly a hardware company; their innovations are in making fast and power efficient GPU's primarily, as well as chipsets. Their big hits were things like the Nforce 2 and Nforce 4 chipsets, the 68xx, 78xx, 88xx and GT(X) 2xx series of GPU's, the mobile GPU's and now Tegra. CUDA and PhysX (not even an Nvidia design originally) haven't really hit it big (yet). JHH's comments about introducing programmable shaders and fully programmable GPU's was an excellent point, but he makes it sound like every innovation from Direct X 7 to DX 11 was all Nvidia's idea!


I think JHH's comments reflect Nvidia of the future, not really Nvidia of today. In the future, Nvidia will be forced to embrace the software side of things, as their desktop chipset business is in jeopardy, and if they don't have the fastest/best priced GPU's, their GPU marketshare is in danger as well.

Huang's comment that "anyone can make [GPU/CPU/chipset] chips , it is really expensive but anyone can do it" is utterly absurd. By that logic, anyone can do anything if the right amount of money is thrown at the problem.

 

[dguy6789]

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024

Huang's comment that "anyone can make [GPU/CPU/chipset] chips , it is really expensive but anyone can do it" is utterly absurd. By that logic, anyone can do anything if the right amount of money is thrown at the problem.

That is completely true.

 

[OCGuy]

Why does it seem like every thread you post is anti-nV?

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

Originally posted by: OCguy
Why does it seem like every thread you post is anti-nV?

Lol? He posted an article about an interview, he didnt say anything Jen didnt say himself, unlike certain people

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: OCguy
Why does it seem like every thread you post is anti-nV?

How is this anti-NV?
Other places have run this story, XBitlabs being one, and their headline was "We are a software company" as well.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/v..._Software_Company.html

I don't see how this is anti-NV unless you believe that NV being a "software company" is a bad thing, even though they are the ones saying it.
If it had been an ATI PR person saying "NV is a software company who doesn't care about gamers and wants to focus on HPC etc" then maybe it could be anti-NV, but this? It's reporting what the NV CEO said and had no accompanying comments.

 

[Idontcare]

CHW: How do you plan to always be the best? How do you achieve this?

JHH: The best way to do it is to have no backup plan,

That seems like prudent business management. Investors will be happy to hear this one.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024

Originally posted by: Wreckage
Here is the full interview for those who don't want to just focus/speculate on 1 small part of it.
http://www.chw.net/2009/10/chw...a-a-jen-hsun-huang/2/#

That is a good link!

The full interview is interesting, and it definitely puts his puzzling quote back into context. Jen-Hsun Huang is definitely outspoken on his company's philosophy, and everything else for that matter. He's also the #1 Nvidia Zealot, pouring a big glass of haterade on everything not Nvidia - Intel's Nvidia-esque chipset strategy, the Lucid Hydra chip, etc.
-----------

His comparison to Apple on being a software company in the guise of a hardware company is interesting but definitely not a great example to compare Nvidia with (at least not Nvidia today). First of all, Apple was considered a software company that makes money on hardware because of software like Mac OS X, iTunes, the simpe and easy to use iPhone interface, etc. Traditionally their big innovations are in software.

But then again, this trend has completely changed of late. What are Apple's big innovations of the past 5+ years? Their big innovations are things like the iPhone and iPod, as well as things like Apple TV that haven't really hit it big. Apple's other big innovations are now hardware design innovations, like the Macbook, Macbook Pro and Macbook Air, the iMac, etc.


Nvidia is overwhelmingly a hardware company; their innovations are in making fast and power efficient GPU's primarily, as well as chipsets. Their big hits were things like the Nforce 2 and Nforce 4 chipsets, the 68xx, 78xx, 88xx and GT(X) 2xx series of GPU's, the mobile GPU's and now Tegra. CUDA and PhysX (not even an Nvidia design originally) haven't really hit it big (yet). JHH's comments about introducing programmable shaders and fully programmable GPU's was an excellent point, but he makes it sound like every innovation from Direct X 7 to DX 11 was all Nvidia's idea!


I think JHH's comments reflect Nvidia of the future, not really Nvidia of today. In the future, Nvidia will be forced to embrace the software side of things, as their desktop chipset business is in jeopardy, and if they don't have the fastest/best priced GPU's, their GPU marketshare is in danger as well.

Huang's comment that "anyone can make [GPU/CPU/chipset] chips , it is really expensive but anyone can do it" is utterly absurd. By that logic, anyone can do anything if the right amount of money is thrown at the problem.

Compare the number of applications for GeForce 6&7 series cards to G80 and above. A DVD player, Pure Video Codec. To hundreds of CUDA apps and more emerging all the time from scientific communities worldwide. I'd say Nvidia surely is evolving from a hardware only company to something substantially more. They are a GPU design company who has been working on software to run on them. Fermi is the next step in this process. To compare them to Apple isn't quite what I had in mind, because today in the PC/laptop area, Apple makes nothing but x86 shells and a nice OS to ride on them. In that respect (excluding Ipods/Iphones) they are a software only company. Tegra has entered the market and according to J. Huang, will be in many big players new smartphones in 2010. And Nintendo DS is pretty huge if Tegra is in there. Millions upon millions of them are sold every year. New models won't be an exception. And if Nintendo is using Nvidia's Tegra in it's new DS, there is a good chance Nintendo will utilize Nvidia GPU's in their next console. That is just speculation. I don't know if Nintendo has contracted anyone yet for the next gen of their console. Anyway, the article covers a lot of areas, so I'm skipping around.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Originally posted by: Idontcare

CHW: How do you plan to always be the best? How do you achieve this?

JHH: The best way to do it is to have no backup plan,

That seems like prudent business management. Investors will be happy to hear this one.

I'm not completely sure why, but I started thinking of the futurama where they rivive the 80s business guy when I read that.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: AyashiKaibutsu

Originally posted by: Idontcare

CHW: How do you plan to always be the best? How do you achieve this?

JHH: The best way to do it is to have no backup plan,

That seems like prudent business management. Investors will be happy to hear this one.

I'm not completely sure why, but I started thinking of the futurama where they rivive the 80s business guy when I read that.

:thumbsup: :laugh:

I know exactly the one you mean. Yeah the thing JHH isn't telling his investors and employees is that if the "no backup plan" fails he'll still be ok because of course he has a personal backup plan (aka golden parachute). What? Doesn't everyone have $30m stashed somewhere in case NV goes up in flames?

 

[v8envy]

Originally posted by: Idontcare
Doesn't everyone have $30m stashed somewhere in case NV goes up in flames?

I read that quote and had a near irresistible urge to go long straddle on NV without even running numbers. Nothing like a crazed CEO willing to put all his chips on the spin of the wheel to buy me and every one of my kids a monster truck.

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY! SEEE JHH try to crush the competition with his enormous balls! SMELL the fear and panic! We'll sell you the whole seat but you'll only gnaw the EDGE EDGE EDGE.

 

[T2k]

Originally posted by: Wreckage
Here is the full interview for those who don't want to just focus/speculate on 1 small part of it.
http://www.chw.net/2009/10/chw...a-a-jen-hsun-huang/2/#

It's a rather pathetic spin by default and it's even worse if I focus on the entire story...

...they do not have any software revenue AFAIC - people buy their product because of games, not to play with their drivers.

Even if they would do then by his logic almost every hardware dev company would qualify as a software company....


...this is a spin, to blur the upcoming effects of their missing quarterly sales but I don't think it will work - high-end technology investors are rarely this stupid.

 

[T2k]

Originally posted by: Keysplayr

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024

Originally posted by: Wreckage
Here is the full interview for those who don't want to just focus/speculate on 1 small part of it.
http://www.chw.net/2009/10/chw...a-a-jen-hsun-huang/2/#

That is a good link!

The full interview is interesting, and it definitely puts his puzzling quote back into context. Jen-Hsun Huang is definitely outspoken on his company's philosophy, and everything else for that matter. He's also the #1 Nvidia Zealot, pouring a big glass of haterade on everything not Nvidia - Intel's Nvidia-esque chipset strategy, the Lucid Hydra chip, etc.
-----------

His comparison to Apple on being a software company in the guise of a hardware company is interesting but definitely not a great example to compare Nvidia with (at least not Nvidia today). First of all, Apple was considered a software company that makes money on hardware because of software like Mac OS X, iTunes, the simpe and easy to use iPhone interface, etc. Traditionally their big innovations are in software.

But then again, this trend has completely changed of late. What are Apple's big innovations of the past 5+ years? Their big innovations are things like the iPhone and iPod, as well as things like Apple TV that haven't really hit it big. Apple's other big innovations are now hardware design innovations, like the Macbook, Macbook Pro and Macbook Air, the iMac, etc.


Nvidia is overwhelmingly a hardware company; their innovations are in making fast and power efficient GPU's primarily, as well as chipsets. Their big hits were things like the Nforce 2 and Nforce 4 chipsets, the 68xx, 78xx, 88xx and GT(X) 2xx series of GPU's, the mobile GPU's and now Tegra. CUDA and PhysX (not even an Nvidia design originally) haven't really hit it big (yet). JHH's comments about introducing programmable shaders and fully programmable GPU's was an excellent point, but he makes it sound like every innovation from Direct X 7 to DX 11 was all Nvidia's idea!


I think JHH's comments reflect Nvidia of the future, not really Nvidia of today. In the future, Nvidia will be forced to embrace the software side of things, as their desktop chipset business is in jeopardy, and if they don't have the fastest/best priced GPU's, their GPU marketshare is in danger as well.

Huang's comment that "anyone can make [GPU/CPU/chipset] chips , it is really expensive but anyone can do it" is utterly absurd. By that logic, anyone can do anything if the right amount of money is thrown at the problem.

Compare the number of applications for GeForce 6&7 series cards to G80 and above. A DVD player, Pure Video Codec.

Are you kidding? NV never made more than chump change on these, let alone the bad taste they left when they tried to sell their encoder even after you bought their cards while ATI was giving away theirs for free of charge for their customers.

To hundreds of CUDA apps and more emerging all the time from scientific communities worldwide.

Neither did these ones...

I'd say Nvidia surely is evolving from a hardware only company to something substantially more. They are a GPU design company who has been working on software to run on them. Fermi is the next step in this process. To compare them to Apple isn't quite what I had in mind, because today in the PC/laptop area, Apple makes nothing but x86 shells and a nice OS to ride on them. In that respect (excluding Ipods/Iphones) they are a software only company. Tegra has entered the market and according to J. Huang, will be in many big players new smartphones in 2010. And Nintendo DS is pretty huge if Tegra is in there. Millions upon millions of them are sold every year. New models won't be an exception. And if Nintendo is using Nvidia's Tegra in it's new DS, there is a good chance Nintendo will utilize Nvidia GPU's in their next console. That is just speculation. I don't know if Nintendo has contracted anyone yet for the next gen of their console. Anyway, the article covers a lot of areas, so I'm skipping around.

Oh, please, save your NV PR slides

Nvidia is not making any serious money on software so far, nothing that would change its balance sheets.

 

[Barfo]

Originally posted by: T2k
Nvidia is not making any serious money on software so far, nothing that would change its balance sheets.

Would you care to provide a link to back this claim?
It makes sense that Nvidia has higher profit margins with CUDA and Tesla apps than the Geforce line.

 

[evolucion8]

Originally posted by: T2k

It's a rather pathetic spin by default and it's even worse if I focus on the entire story...

...they do not have any software revenue AFAIC - people buy their product because of games, not to play with their drivers.

Even if they would do then by his logic almost every hardware dev company would qualify as a software company....


...this is a spin, to blur the upcoming effects of their missing quarterly sales but I don't think it will work - high-end technology investors are rarely this stupid.

Did you see a comment in the Xbit labs that states; "What a nob, I think NV would be far better off if mr huang had a fatal accident"

LOL, for me, he has a good vision, but not for nVidia, but may be Apple or Microsoft.

 

[Barfo]

As much as I hate Nvidia's marketing tactics and anti consumer stance, Huang is a great asset to his company and has led them towards leadership of their market segment.

 

[schenley101]

I actually agree with Huang. normally to me, he seems full of bs, but Nvidia,s major advantage over ATi is its software integration and developer tools/relations. they make lots of effort to help developers make use of their hardware. also, with quadro, the support is amazing. if you have a problem, they give immediate attention, and help you solve the problem. with firegl/pro, the support is lackluster and not very fast at best.