Covering Hollyhood Microsoft Google Apple

NVIDIA is working on releasing its own chips for devices running Windows 8 and it intends to use its specialization in graphics as leverage.

NVIDIA Working On Its Own Chip For Windows 8

NVIDIA is working on its own line of ARM-base chips (same architecture used in chips made by Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and Apple, etc.) for using in Windows 8 devices. The company is known mainly for its superior graphics cards and more recently the Tegra series of SoC’s (system on a chip) that are in common use in the mobile sector.

The company has plans to go beyond tablets and smartphones to put their chips on laptops as well. Since the chips will be using designs made by ARM, they will make for great battery life and NVIDIA’s specialization ill ensure that the graphics quality is great.

Since Windows 8 will be able to run on both ARM and x86 (Intel and AMD), a lot of companies are looking in to ARM-based technologies to work on their own custom offerings for the Windows 8 market. Windows being the world’s most common operating system, the market penetration of its latest version is expected to be quite high. This is what is motivating companies like NVIDIA to offer products that they would not consider otherwise.

NVIDIA’s chip will use the same technology that runs inside most tablets on the market right now, including the market leader iPad and the second ranking Kindle Fire. Many of these tablets are from major companies like Motorola, Acer, Asus and Lenovo and they use NVIDIA’s Tegra SoC. Tegra 3 is the latest in this series and it is one of the first quad-core SoCs. It also has 12 graphic cores, helping companies like Samsung drive higher resolutions and better performance in their smartphones and tablets.

NVIDIA says that Windows on ARM (WoA) gives them the opportunity they require to break the current status quo of Windows running exclusively on x86 and therefore mostly on Intel — the world’s largest chipmaker who makes solely x86 chips.

ARM chips like the one NVIDIA is planning would bring features such as extremely slim fanless-designs and longer battery life to touch-based Windows 8 devices. They would also drive prices down through the emerging competition, thus benefitting the consumer.