NVidia: ATI Has 'Thrown In The Towel' By Being Acquired

An interview conducted by consumer website Firing Squad with NVidia director of public relations Derek Perez has thrown up some provocative comments, with Perez attempting to paint the acquisition of ATI Technologies by processor manufacturer AMD as a victory for NVidia in the graphics technology market. When asked what NVidia’s official reaction to the acquisition was Perez answered: “We look at today’s news as a positive for the company and there’s a couple of reasons why. Ultimately this leaves us as the only GPU and platform company that will be able to support both AMD and Intel.” “So if you think about it, it’s kind of like ATI’s thrown in the towel right? Getting beat on both ends, looking for a way out, a little bit like 3Dfx a few years back”, added Perez. Although rumored since May of this year, analysts had questioned the financial and strategic wisdom of AMD acquiring ATI outright. Additionally, the move could have important repercussions for the games industry, with the question of continued ATI support for Intel chipsets currently unclear. The ramifications for ATI rival NVidia’s support for AMD chipsets is also now in question. Amidst unconfirmed rumors that Intel has failed to renew ATI’s chipset bus license, Perez confirmed that NVidia would continue to work with AMD. “We’ll continue to work with AMD on the processor side, they’re a very valued processor partner, we’ve been working with them for a few years, so we’ll continue to work with them on nForce.”