Intel makes peace with Nvidia, pays $1.5 billion in patent deal
Intel, the world’s largest micro-chip maker, has agreed to pay its smaller rival Nvidia $1.5bn (£965.2m) to use its technology, bringing to an end a legal dispute that began in 2009. The dispute centered on technology patented by each company and used by the other. In February 2009 Intel sued Nvidia, a graphics chip maker, over the right to continue making an Intel designed chip. Nvidia then counter-sued. The agreement is the largest licensing deal in Nvidia’s history and comes at a time when the company is moving forward with its ARM-based processors for desktops and supercomputers.
And as for Intel, it will now be able to continue developing its own chips that integrate graphics technology based on Nvidia patents. “This agreement ends the legal dispute between the companies,” said Doug Melamed, Intel senior vice president and counsel. “It also enables the companies to focus on innovation and the development of new products.” Intel is the dominant market player supplying micro-processors for 80% of the world’s personal computers.
—
Motorola to Ship 800,000 Xoom Tablets in Q1
One of the biggest headlines to come out of the CES in Las Vegas last week was Motorola’s spiffy new tablet, aptly called Xoom. Now rumor has it that the CES sweetheart is going to be shipped in the hundreds of thousands by Motorola in the first three months of 2011. Digitimes reports that sources within component suppliers have claimed that Moto has placed orders for about 700,000-800,000 units with four color options for the first quarter of this year.
The tablet boasts of Nvidia’s dual core Tegra 2 processor, a 10.1-inch widescreen 1280×800 HD display, HDMI out, 1080p video playback, two cameras (2-megapixels up front and 5-megapixels + LED Flash in the back), a built-in gyroscope, barometer, compass, accelerometer and adaptive lighting for new types of applications. Impressive, right? Add to that that the Xoom comes with support for Verizon’s LTE network and the latest version of Android for tablets (Android 3.0/Honeycomb). That’s the latest in tablet tech across the board for you. No release date or pricing for the device have been announced yet.
