5 ms·

Can someone explain this to me: Isn't the GPU industry all about Patents and trade secrets (enforced by NDAs). Won't all Rajas expertise be tied up in that?

ChuckMcM 9y ago
Intel has a both a large patent portfolio and a lot of legal firepower in that space, so no, I don't think folks like Nvidia will be able to "threaten" Intel with patents. Nvidia might be able to threaten them with the monopoly card (clearly Intel is using its dominance in desktops and laptops to move into an adjacent market) but they have been doing that for many years with the integrated GPUs so I would expect it to be a weak play.
- cameronhowe 9y ago
  I must have expressed myself poorly. He's coming from AMD/RTG, everything he knows is presumably what they use/own. Nothing to do with NVIDIA
  - ChuckMcM 9y ago
    No, I understood, I just called out Nvidia because they are so often on the other side of a patent dispute with Intel. AMD and Intel have broad cross patent licensing deals in place because of previous fights over patents on the frontside bus, the instruction set, etc. From a strategic markets point of view I see it this way; Discrete GPUs gives Intel a shot of owning both pieces of high margin silicon in a laptop / tablet design win (GPU & CPU) and potentially it gives Intel additional ammunition to go after Nvidia or to mitigate their encroaching.
- bhouston 9y ago
  Nvidia and Intel have gone to war previously over parents with big settlements.
awalton 9y ago
It's likely Intel's already got cross-licensing agreements for everything they need, seeing as they already build GPUs. (Or is somehow everyone forgetting that fact?) The case is probably that the Intel graphics team just decided they'd rather play against the big boys at nVidia and actually put enough cores on a chip to be a competitor, but in order to do that, they'd need to go off-chip for power and heat dissipation reasons. Hiring the guy from AMD helps you sell the new solution, since presumably that's what this guy's good at. The market's rife for being disrupted as it has been incredibly stagnant with nVidia and AMD's tit-for-tat for the past, well, decade.
- bhouston 9y ago
  Do you think Intel played dirty on this one? Licensed something from AMD that also opened the door to this strategy via a loop hole?
  - awalton 9y ago
    I don't have any evidence either way, but it smells like the typical Silicon Valley job sniping that happens here every day. I'd happily take a Chief Architect role at a company if the paycheck had enough zeros and I was the domain expert for that technology. Maybe someday I'd actually be able to afford a home in this miserable region...
dv_dt 9y ago
Maybe Raja's move was part of the AMD Intel GPU deal, as could be some undisclosed fees for use AMD graphics tech for use at Intel. That could mean Raja is there to lead a close integration of the tech bases.
- periya 9y ago
  This is unlikely, no company would voluntarily hand over their top talent especially to their rivals. Even with the new deal in place Intel AMD are very much rivals.
  - dv_dt 9y ago
    Normally yes, but companies also shy away from a high potential to get into IP fights about patents and trade secrets.

ChuckMcM 9y ago

Intel has a both a large patent portfolio and a lot of legal firepower in that space, so no, I don't think folks like Nvidia will be able to "threaten" Intel with patents. Nvidia might be able to threaten them with the monopoly card (clearly Intel is using its dominance in desktops and laptops to move into an adjacent market) but they have been doing that for many years with the integrated GPUs so I would expect it to be a weak play.

cameronhowe 9y ago
I must have expressed myself poorly. He's coming from AMD/RTG, everything he knows is presumably what they use/own. Nothing to do with NVIDIA
- ChuckMcM 9y ago
  No, I understood, I just called out Nvidia because they are so often on the other side of a patent dispute with Intel. AMD and Intel have broad cross patent licensing deals in place because of previous fights over patents on the frontside bus, the instruction set, etc. From a strategic markets point of view I see it this way; Discrete GPUs gives Intel a shot of owning both pieces of high margin silicon in a laptop / tablet design win (GPU & CPU) and potentially it gives Intel additional ammunition to go after Nvidia or to mitigate their encroaching.
bhouston 9y ago
Nvidia and Intel have gone to war previously over parents with big settlements.

awalton 9y ago

It's likely Intel's already got cross-licensing agreements for everything they need, seeing as they already build GPUs. (Or is somehow everyone forgetting that fact?) The case is probably that the Intel graphics team just decided they'd rather play against the big boys at nVidia and actually put enough cores on a chip to be a competitor, but in order to do that, they'd need to go off-chip for power and heat dissipation reasons. Hiring the guy from AMD helps you sell the new solution, since presumably that's what this guy's good at. The market's rife for being disrupted as it has been incredibly stagnant with nVidia and AMD's tit-for-tat for the past, well, decade.

bhouston 9y ago
Do you think Intel played dirty on this one? Licensed something from AMD that also opened the door to this strategy via a loop hole?
- awalton 9y ago
  I don't have any evidence either way, but it smells like the typical Silicon Valley job sniping that happens here every day. I'd happily take a Chief Architect role at a company if the paycheck had enough zeros and I was the domain expert for that technology. Maybe someday I'd actually be able to afford a home in this miserable region...

dv_dt 9y ago

Maybe Raja's move was part of the AMD Intel GPU deal, as could be some undisclosed fees for use AMD graphics tech for use at Intel. That could mean Raja is there to lead a close integration of the tech bases.

periya 9y ago
This is unlikely, no company would voluntarily hand over their top talent especially to their rivals. Even with the new deal in place Intel AMD are very much rivals.
- dv_dt 9y ago
  Normally yes, but companies also shy away from a high potential to get into IP fights about patents and trade secrets.