Computer graphics expert NVIDIA
No price-gouging here, man
"We shipped everything we had in Q3, and if our customers were willing to take chairs and furniture, I would have shipped that too," said CEO Jen-Hsun Huang.
You might think that NVIDIA would raise its prices to control the supply-and-demand equation, but Huang scoffs at that thought. "Raising prices because demand is high is just bad mojo, man. You don't want to go there." That's just not how NVIDIA rolls, man.
In the end, third-quarter sales came in at $903 million -- flat from the year-ago period but 16% stronger than this year's second quarter. Non-GAAP earnings stayed close to last year's figure, too, dropping a mere penny to $0.19 per share.
Cause and effect
The failure to keep up with demand stems in part from manufacturing difficulties. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing
But it's not all negativity. The other half of the undersupply equation is strong demand for personal computers, smartphones, and netbooks. When Microsoft
This is also good news for processor makers Intel
What's next?
The NVIDIA of tomorrow is shaping up to be a very different beast from the company we see today. The technical lines between graphics chips and system processors are blurring fast; both Intel and AMD are preparing to launch processor chips with built-in graphics cores in the next couple of years, even as NVIDIA is moving from graphic to graphic-plus-processor chips. Soon enough, I can see NVIDIA’s closest rival being Texas Instruments
Running out of product to sell is a nice problem to have, and Huang seems to have growth plans in place for both the short and medium term beyond this torrential surge. To me, that seems like an opportunity.