NVIDIA 2009 Annual Report Download - page 6

GPU Business
Our GPU business is comprised primarily of our GeForce products that support desktop and notebook PCs, plus memory products.
Our GPU business is focused on Microsoft Windows and Apple PC platforms. GeForce GPUs power PCs made by or distributed by
most PC OEMs in the world for desktop PCs, notebook PCs, PCs loaded with Windows Media Center and media extenders such as
the Apple TV. GPUs enhance the user experience for playing video games, editing photos, viewing and editing videos and
high-definition, or HD, movies. GPUs also enable the rich visual user interfaces of the Windows Vista and Apple OS X operating
systems. The combination of the programmable Unified Shader GPU with Microsoft Corporation’s, or Microsoft’s, DirectX 10
high-level shading language is known as DirectX 10 GPUs. Combined with the ability to directly access the GPU via the new
Windows Vista applications from Microsoft Office to Web 2.0, applications can now incorporate improved quality through 3D effects.
We believe we are in an era where visual computing is becoming increasingly important to consumers and other end users of our
products. Our strategy is to promote our GeForce brand as one of the most important processors through technology leadership,
increasing programmability, and great content experience. In fiscal year 2009, our strategy was to extend our architectural and
technology advantage with our GeForce GPUs.
The GeForce GTX 280 and 260 GPU products that we launched during fiscal year 2009 represent the second-generation of our
unified architecture. Based on a comparison between the GeForce GTX 280 and the GeForce 8800 Ultra in a variety of benchmarks
and resolutions, the GeForce GTX 280 and 260 GPUs deliver 50 percent more gaming performance over the GeForce 8800 Ultra
GPU. Other significant product launches during fiscal year 2009 included the GeForce 9600 GT, which provides more than double the
performance of our GeForce 8600 GTS product; the GeForce 9800 GX2, which provides a new dual GPU board featuring Quad
Scalable Link Interface, or SLI, technology; and the GeForce 9800 GTX, which is a flexible GPU that supports both two-way and
three-way SLI technology.
We also launched the GeForce GTX 295 and GeForce GTX 285 which were designed based on Compute Unified Device
Architecture, or CUDA, technology. The GeForce GTX 295 is among the world’s fastest dual GPU solutions featuring the power of
two GeForce GTX 200 GPUs on a single card. The GeForce GTX 285 is among the world’s most powerful single GPU solution and
works efficiently in complex DirectX 10 environments with extreme HD resolutions. We also shipped notebook products from the
GeForce 100M Series, which includes the GeForce G105M and the GeForce G110M to meet the performance demands of today’s
visual computing applications. The GeForce G105M is over 55 percent faster than our previous product in the mainstream segment,
while the GeForce G110M is 35 percent faster than our previous mainstream GPU.
In fiscal year 2009, we completed our acquisition of Ageia Technologies, Inc., or Ageia, an industry leader in gaming physics
technology. Ageia's PhysX software is widely adopted in several PhysX-based games that are shipping or in development on Sony
Playstation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and gaming PCs. We believe that the combination of the GPU and physics engine
brands result in an enhanced visual experience for the gaming world. Subsequent to our acquisition of Ageia, we launched the
GeForce 9800 GTX+, GeForce 9800 GT, and GeForce 9500 GT GPUs, which provide support for our PhysX physics engine and
CUDA parallel processing across a wide range of price segments. Electronic Arts, THQ and 2K Games, a publishing label of
Take-Two Interactive Software, have licensed PhysX technology as a development platform which will be available for use by each of
the companies’ studios worldwide.
Our share of the standalone desktop GPU category decreased from 64% to 63% in fiscal year 2009, according to the December
2007 and December 2008 PC Graphics Report from Mercury Research, respectively. Our share of the standalone notebook category
decreased from 75% to 63%, according to the December 2007 and December 2008 PC Graphics Report from Mercury Research,
respectively.
Professional Solutions Business
Our PSB is comprised of our Quadro professional workstation products and other professional graphics products, including our
Tesla high-performance computing products. Our Quadro brand products are designed to deliver the highest possible level of
performance and compatibility for the professional industry. The Quadro family consists of the Quadro Plex Visual Computing
System, or VCS, Quadro FX, Quadro CX and the Quadro Night Vision Systems, or NVS, professional workstation processors. Quadro
products are recognized by many as the standard for professional graphics solutions needed to solve many of the world’s most
complex visual computing challenges in the manufacturing, entertainment, medical, science, and aerospace industries. NVIDIA
Quadro products are fully certified by several software developers for professional workstation applications and are designed to
deliver the graphics performance and precision required by professional applications.
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Source: NVIDIA CORP, 10-K, March 13, 2009 Powered by Morningstar® Document Research℠