Original URL: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/02/05/nvidia_to_purchase_ageia/
Graphics chip giant Nvidia is to purchase the last major independent physics house, Ageia. The price and many details of the acquisition aren't being disclosed, but Nvidia said (http://www.nvidia.com/object/io_1202161567170.html) more information will come during the company's quarterly earnings call on February 13.
While separate physics cards (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/05/04/review_ageia_physx_board/) like those made by Ageia have been introduced to overwhelming apathy, the company does good business selling its PhysX middleware to game developers.
But who knows, with Nvidia now behind Ageia we could be hearing a lot more about physics cards in the near future.
Nvidia's CEO Jenl-Hsun Huang said the acquisition will "bring GeForce-accelerated PhysX to hundreds of millions of gamers around the world", in the release.
It also puts Nvidia in direct competition with Intel, which purchased physics software Havok (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/09/17/intel_to_buy_havok/) last year. Now with the major physics middleware developers eaten up, where does that leave AMD? ®
Nvidia completes absorption of physics chip maker (14 May 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/05/14/nvidia_absorbs_ageia/
Nvidia rolls out 'world's fastest' graphics card (18 March 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/03/18/nvidia_rolls_out_9800_gx2/
Nvidia dual-GPU graphics card due next week (11 March 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/03/11/nvidia_gx2_next_week/
Mobo makers show unlaunched Nvidia chipsets (7 March 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/03/07/mobo_makers_nvidia_chipsets/
Nvidia lets DX10 mobile GPU specs slip (5 March 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/03/05/nvidia_lets_dx10_mobile_gpu_specs_slip/
Nvidia to unveil GeForce 9600 this week? (19 February 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/02/19/nvidia_launch_9600_gt/
Nvidia plies Hybrid SLI (8 January 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/01/08/ces_nvidia_hybrid_sli/
Nvidia rolls out 'tri-SLI' (14 December 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/12/14/nvidia_tri_sli_launched/
Ageia preps PCI Express games physics card (2 October 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/02/ageia_pcie_x1_physx_card/
Asus exposes Nvidia physics card product (21 September 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/09/21/asus_spills_nvidia_beans/
Havok ships physics-on-GPU coding tool (12 July 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/07/12/havok_ships_havok_fx/
Ageia PhysX physics accelerator chip (4 May 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/05/04/review_ageia_physx_board/