The floods in Thailand last year continue to wreak havoc on technology companies stateside.
First, Intel
Rival Advanced Micro Devices
Next up: NVIDIA
The chipmaker just revised its fourth-quarter sales guidance, also citing the HDD deficiencies plaguing the industry. The top-line projection shrank from just over $1 billion to $950 million. The shortages have hurt NVIDIA's GPU business, as shipments to PC OEMs were hit, and the resulting rise in HDD prices crimped OEM's ability to add in a GPU.
On top of that, the company saw demand for its Tegra 2 mobile processor fall more than expected, although some decline is inevitable as NVIDIA ramps up its quad-core Tegra 3 chip.
While NVIDIA's ARM Holdings
NVIDIA and Intel continue to escalate their frenemy relationship. While Intel CPUs and NVIDIA discrete GPUs were always complementary, Intel integrated graphics partly diminished the need for a separate GPU. Intel's new Medfield Atom chip is gunning for mobile, an arena where Tegra is a major contender. Microsoft Windows 8 will support ARM chips, where Tegra will inevitably win some main brain spots.
Who has escaped the Thai floods relatively unscathed? Apple
While the HDD shortages have presented a speed bump for tech players, this too shall pass. NVIDIA's long-term story is still intact.
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