Intel Sues Nvidia as CPU Power Moves To GPU

More than 40 years ago, Gordon E. Moore, one of the cofounders of Intel, observed that the number of transistors that could be incorporated into an integrated circuit had increased exponentially, doubling approximately every two years. Despite the challenges posed by the incredibly minute sizes of modern-day chips, Moore's Law is expected to hold true for at least another decade.

Having retired from Intel a dozen years ago, maybe Moore has time to work on a new law: The growth in the number of attorneys needed to litigate new chip designs.

A long-standing cross-licensing agreement between Intel and Nvidia is on the rocks. On Monday, Intel filed suit in Delaware state court, arguing that the agreement between the two companies doesn't apply to CPUs with integrated memory controllers that were not in existence when the licensing deal was signed.

Complicated Litigation

The suit is sealed and not available to the public. However, a statement issued by Intel said Nvidia breached the agreement between the companies by asserting licensing rights to new chips, and efforts to resolve the dispute were unsuccessful.

"Intel has been in discussions with Nvidia for more than a year attempting to resolve the matter," a spokesperson said, "but unfortunately we were unsuccessful. As a result, Intel is asking the court to resolve this dispute. It is our hope that this dispute will not impact other areas of our companies' working relationship."

Not surprisingly, Nvidia disagrees with Intel. Nvidia, which manufactures sophisticated graphics processing units (GPUs), argues that the licensing arrangement was intended to cover new products.

"We are confident that our license, as negotiated, applies," said Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO of Nvidia. "At the heart of this issue is that the CPU has run its course and the soul of the PC is shifting quickly to the GPU. This is clearly an attempt...