Leaked Nvidia Slide Shows Bets On 3D, Content

More evidence has surfaced that Nvidia is betting on mobile content as a presentation slide leaked to several sites shows the company pushing a new chip out in the fourth quarter.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nvidia rolled out the Tegra 2 processor, sporting a dual-core architecture with clock speeds of 1 gigahertz. The Tegra 2 will be in two forms, the T20 and AP20, both for mobile devices and tablets.

The presentation slide shows a Tegra 2 processor, which like its predecessor will be based on ARM designs. The chips will be the T25 and AP25. Both feature dual cores and speeds up to 1.2 GHz. Production is scheduled for this quarter.

For the fourth quarter, the presentation shows the Tegra 3, as the T30 and AP30. The former will feature a quad-core architecture and 1.5 GHz clock speeds. The slide says it will provide three fold increases in graphics speed, blu-ray video, and 1920 x 1200 displays. The AP30, meanwhile, will work with 1366 x 768 displays and feature either dual- or quad-core systems. Samples, it says, will be available in the fourth quarter.

An Nvidia spokesman said he could not confirm or deny that the leaked slide is real.

The new chips underscore the bet that Nvidia is making on content as a centerpiece of mobile device capability. At his CES presentation, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang showcased the gaming and graphics capabilities of the Tegra 2, and kept coming back to the role of content in stimulating demand for advanced phones, which he referred to as superphones. These are phones, such as the Motorola Atrix, that have nearly all the capability of a desktop machine.

Nvidia's 3D Tegra processors will reportedly be based on ARM designs, in an initiative dubbed Project Denver. Huang said it was a way for ARM to expand its reach to servers, PCs and supercomputers, from its current stronghold in the mobile device market. He noted that the number of ARM processors sold has outstripped those based on the x86 architecture, though much of that is because ARM chips appear in mobile devices.

Some reports have said the company may unveil the new chips at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, which takes place Feb. 14-17.