New documents have surfaced that details a new relation between NVIDIA and Microsoft that gives Microsoft the right to interfere with a possible acquisition or can simply buy the company. This agreement between NVIDIA and Microsoft becomes active if a third party acquires more than 30% of NVIDIA.
This deal between NVIDIA and Microsoft is not new, but actually rather old, it most likely deates back to when NVIDIA became the choice of supplier for the GPU of the first Xbox and chipset supplier for Microsoft Zune.
NVIDIA Tegra – a reason for purchase?
The deal becomes active when a third party acquires more than 30% of NVIDIA stock as Microsoft has veto to throw in or simply buy a major share of its own, or NVIDIA as a whole. Whether this will happen or not is hard to say, but the scenario seems doubtful as NVIDIA grows stronger and stronger in the ultramobila market with the Tegra series and Microsoft is moving toward the very same market with tablets and smartphones, and let us not forget that Microsoft intends to use graphics cards for GPGPU programming natively in Windows 8.
An acquisition is not on the map, but Microsoft certainly has the possibility and the wallet to get NVIDIA if it wants to, and could bundle Windows Phone and Tegra at special prices for partners or seriously get into GPGPU acceleration with all operating systems. With the purchase of Skype, NVIDIA is in line with the company strategy in communication and the mobile market, and an obvious choice for future video game consoles.
Source: InformationWeek
