NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) introduced its powerful Tegra K1 chip at the 2014 International CES earlier this year. It's an important product for the company, which has done a good job differentiating itself by serving the high end of the market.
The "Tegra Processor" unit is one of two reporting segments for NVIDIA. It comprises Tegra system-on-chip product lines for phones, tablets, PCs, automotive, and gaming devices. The unit pulled in $398 million last fiscal year, accounting for almost 10% of all NVIDIA revenue. However, that total is down some 48% from the prior year – so management and shareholders alike are hoping the K1 will help reverse that trend.
CES provided a great first look at the K1. Motley Fool analyst Rex Moore was in Las Vegas for the big show, and spoke with NVIDIA's Doug MacMillan about the new chip and what it will mean to consumers and developers.
The K1 is powerful enough to decode and display two 4K streams simultaneously. In this video segment MacMillan shows off a crystal clear image on a 14-inch display and a big-screen 4K television, both running off the same chip.
A full transcript follows the video.
Doug MacMillan: Right behind me is a reference platform. It's basically showing that we can decode and display two 4K streams simultaneously. On the left we have a 14-inch 4K display, which would be like an internal display. That's running at 60 fps, then outputting over HDMI running to this large 4K television at standard 24 fps -- so we're, again, doing two 4K streams on the fly.
Rex Moore: Is that too hot to touch over there?
MacMillan: It's not hot at all, actually. It's encased in plastic so it doesn't get bumped, but it's touchable.
