Confirmed — Nvidia Working on Chrome OS Tegra Devices
Nvidia Working on Chrome OS Tegra Devices — Earlier this month, rumors out of China indicated that we'd see Google Chrome OS devices running on Nvidia's Tegra platform. I had a product briefing with Mike Rayfield, Nvidia's GM of Mobile Business, and heard it directly from the source.
Context & Ripple Effects
Rumors out of China earlier this month suggested Chrome OS devices would run on Nvidia's Tegra platform; Nvidia has now confirmed it outright, with GM of Mobile Business Mike Rayfield stating the work directly in a product briefing rather than leaving it to speculation. This builds on Nvidia's summer momentum in mobile silicon — Samsung confirmed its own Tegra phone project in July 2009.
The strategic wrinkle is that Tegra is built on ARM processor cores, while Nvidia already plays in the x86 camp through its Ion platform pairing GeForce graphics with Intel's Atom. Working with Chrome OS on Tegra means Nvidia is positioned on both sides of the architecture split in the emerging low-cost smartbook market.
First-order effects
- OEMs designing Chrome OS hardware now have a confirmed ARM-based silicon option in Tegra, not just Intel Atom-class parts, changing their bill-of-materials choices for netbooks and smartbooks.
Second-order effects
- Intel faces a credible ARM-backed challenger for Chrome OS designs in exactly the low-cost portable segment where Atom dominates, pressuring Atom pricing and pushing Nvidia's two-platform strategy (Ion for x86, Tegra for ARM) into direct competition across the aisle.
Third-order effects
- If Chrome OS ships broadly on Tegra, it becomes the first mainstream consumer OS outside phones to carry ARM chips into general-purpose computing — the same architecture bet later echoed across Nvidia's mobile lineup — and shifts vendor competition toward whole platforms rather than individual chips.
The trend: Chrome OS is emerging as the proving ground for ARM processors in mainstream consumer computing, with silicon vendors like Nvidia positioning dual-platform strategies to cover whichever architecture wins.