NVIDIA vs. ATI

Strategy and execution

For 2000, NVIDIA's strategy was to fill out its product lineup. NVIDIA launched six products based upon two solid graphics cores, and was remarkably successful in taking a base chip design and developing both workstation and value editions of the chip.

The surprise of 2000 came from ATI and its Radeon chipset, which catapulted the company to the upper echelon of gaming performance, right along side NVIDIA. However, while the Radeon reestablished ATI as a major player in the high-end graphics, NVIDIA was still able to succeed by being the first to market and by making significant performance improvements through new drivers.

Furthermore, ATI has had much less success building upon its standard core. Although ATI offers the All-in-Wonder Radeon, which supplies improvements at the board level, ATI does not have an upmarket workstation edition of the Radeon, and the value Radeon VE has not yet shown up on store shelves.

The upcoming battle

NVIDIA's strategy is very straightforward. Develop a robust, high-performance 3D core. Then span it across multiple markets and performance levels.

2001 will be an interesting year. The NV20 is expected to be announced fairly soon, with rumors pointing to the end of February. After the initial release, one can expect a workstation and value edition of the chip. It is also very likely that a Mac version of the NV20 is also being readied. With 3dfx out of the picture, the only formidable competitor left in the graphics industry is ATI. Matrox may have a high-end part waiting in the wings, but the company's high-end product releases are few and far between. NVIDIA and ATI are the companies to watch. ATI's next generation technology is not expected to be unveiled until March, with the actual product to be shipped in summer.

This coming year, NVIDIA and ATI will essentially be competing in nearly every possible market. While set-top-boxes still remain a province of ATI, NVIDIA has planted seeds in the Macintosh and mobile markets and even has chipsets coming this year to go head to head against ATI's fledgling chipset business. It'll be very interesting to watch the two titans battle it out on the different fronts.