NVIDIA 2015 Annual Report Download - page 90

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Our current competitors include:
• suppliers of discrete and integrated GPUs, including supercomputers and chipsets that incorporate 3D graphics
functionality as part of their existing solutions, such as Advanced Micro Devices, or AMD, and Intel Corporation,
or Intel;
• suppliers of SOC products that are embedded into smart devices such as televisions, monitors, set-top boxes,
gaming devices and automobiles, such as AMD, Apple, Inc., Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., Fuzhou Rockchip
Electronics Co., Ltd., Intel, Marvell Technology Group Ltd., Mediatek, Mobileye N.V., Qualcomm Incorporated,
Samsung, ST Microelectronics, and Texas Instruments Incorporated; and
• licensors of graphics technologies, such as ARM Holdings plc, or ARM, and Imagination Technologies Group plc.
Patents and Proprietary Rights
We rely primarily on a combination of patents, trademarks, trade secrets, employee and third-party nondisclosure
agreements and licensing arrangements to protect our intellectual property in the United States and internationally. Our
currently issued patents have expiration dates from April 2015 to December 2034. We have numerous patents issued, allowed
and pending in the United States and in foreign jurisdictions. Our patents and pending patent applications primarily relate
to our products and the technology used in connection with our products. We also rely on international treaties, organizations
and foreign laws to protect our intellectual property. The laws of certain foreign countries in which our products are or may
be manufactured or sold, including various countries in Asia, may not protect our products or intellectual property rights
to the same extent as the laws of the United States. This decreased protection makes the possibility of piracy of our technology
and products more likely. We continuously assess whether and where to seek formal protection for particular innovations
and technologies based on such factors as:
• the location in which our products are manufactured;
• our strategic technology or product directions in different countries;
• the degree to which intellectual property laws exist and are meaningfully enforced in different jurisdictions; and
• the commercial significance of our operations and our competitors' operations in particular countries and regions.
We have also licensed technology from third parties for incorporation in some of our products and for defensive reasons,
and expect to continue to enter into such license agreements.
Employees
As of January 25, 2015, we had 9,228 employees, 6,658 of whom were engaged in research and development and 2,570
of whom were engaged in sales, marketing, operations and administrative positions.
Environmental Regulatory Compliance
To date, we have not incurred significant expenses related to environmental regulatory compliance matters.
Financial Information by Reporting Segment and Geographic Data
The information included in Note 16 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Part IV, Item 15 of this
Annual Report on Form 10-K, including financial information by reporting segment and revenue and long-lived assets by
geographic region, is hereby incorporated by reference. For additional detail regarding the risks attendant to our foreign