北京时间2008年8月2日，国外媒体Digitimes英文站在显著位置刊登NVIDIA将退出芯片组市场的新闻。消息一经发表就得到了业界得广泛关注，国内多家媒体也对这则消息进行了转载及评论。但这一消息并没有得到NVIDIA的认同。
据Digitimes英文站消息原文，该站原因消息人士得话，说Nvidia决定退出芯片组市场，并且可能会将其芯片组部门的人员调动到GPU项目中。另外，一些台湾主板制造商已经取消了基于nForce7系列芯片组的高端主板项目。
主板厂商对此的态度是沉默。虽然NVIDIA宣称已经拿到了IntelQPI总线授权，但在下一代Nehalem平台上并不打算开发新款芯片组，而是借助nForce200桥接芯片让IntelX58芯片组获得SLI支持。额外芯片的加入将使得主板厂商不得不重新进行布线设计，大大增加了成本，而且nForce200芯片本身发热量巨大，也必须辅以散热手段，这一切都让主板厂商无法接受。相反，竞争对手AMD得多路CrossFireX正得到全面得应用和推广，如果NVIDIA不尽快设法公开授权，让Intel和/或AMD平台也支持SLI，就必然会在高端主板市场上束手束脚。据悉，DFI、富士康、技嘉等厂商都不打算推出nForce790iSLI主板。
另外最近有消息称苹果会在今后的笔记本中采用NVIDIA芯片组，现在看来可能性也不大了，毕竟苹果和Intel的关系已经很密切，如果现在转向前途并不明朗的NVIDIA，并不是一个明智得选择，这样不符合苹果一贯精明的作风。
但是以上报道遭到了NVIDIA官方的否认。据外媒报道，针对此前有媒体报道称Nvidia拟退出芯片组市场一事，Nvidia发言人布莱恩·德尔·里佐（BryanDelRizzo）向报道此事的媒体致函，称这些报道“不实”且“无根据”，并要求其撤回有关此事的报道。
但是俗话说无风不起浪，NVIDIA近段时间在主板市场上得表现不佳是众所周之的事情，传闻NVIDIA放弃芯片组业务也是有一定的事实作为背景。主板芯片组业务是NVIDIA除了GPU以外的最主要产品线，放弃这一市场无疑是对NVIDIA的一个巨大打击，NVIDIA在nForce2时代的强盛让大家印象深刻，难道这样一个曾经无比辉煌的巨头真会落到如此境地？让我们关注后续得报道。
Digitimes英文站消息原文如下：
Nvidia to quit chipset business
Ricky Morris, DIGITIMES, Taipei Friday 1 August 2008
Nvidia has decided to throw in the towel and quit thechipsetbusiness, sources close to the situation at one of Taiwan"stopmotherboard makers have revealed. As the story is told,Nvidiacalled a meeting earlier this week with its motherboardpartners togauge support for it continuing to develop chipsets inthefuture.
The motherboard makers" response? Silence.
It is still early days and not all the facts are known at thetimeof writing, but it is believed Nvidia will transfer thechipset teamto working on GPU projects. On the motherboard makers"side, somemakers have already canceled upcoming high-endmotherboard projectsbased on the nForce 7-series chipset.
The loss of its chipset business is expected to have asignificantimpact on Nvidia"s GPU business in the short-term.Reception to thenForce 200 chip (BR04) which will enable SLItechnology on Intel X58motherboards has been lukewarm at best,with many makers saying theywill not bother adding the chip ontheir boards. This means Nvidianeeds to find a way of licensingand enabling multi-GPU support onmotherboards using Intel and/orAMD chipsets fast. Otherwise it willhave to cede the top-end ofthe graphics card market to AMD, whichnow has the benefit ofCrossfire.
The news would also debunk any recent speculation that willbeadopting Nvidia chipsets for its upcoming notebook products.Itwould be unfortunate if really has poured water on thecloserelationship it has built with Intel over the past few years,onlyto have its new best friend exit the market before productsareeven announced.
作者：黄磊 (来源：天极网)
