2009

Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with “Item 1A. Risk Factors”, “Item 6. Selected Financial Data”, our Consolidated Financial Statements and related Notes thereto, as well as other cautionary statements and risks described elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, before deciding to purchase, hold or sell shares of our common stock.



Overview



Our Company

 

  NVIDIA Corporation helped awaken the world to the power of computer graphics when it invented the graphics processor unit, or GPU, in 1999.  Expertise in programmable GPUs has led to breakthroughs in parallel processing which make supercomputing inexpensive and widely accessible.  We serve the entertainment and consumer market with our GeForce graphics products, the professional design and visualization market with our Quadro graphics products, the high-performance computing market with our Tesla computing solutions products, and the mobile computing market with our Tegra system-on-a-chip products. During the last several fiscal years, we have operated and reported four major product-line operating segments: the GPU business, the professional solutions business, or PSB, the media and communications processor, or MCP, business, and the consumer products business, or CPB. However, effective with the first quarter of fiscal year 2011, we will no longer separate our MCP and GPU operating segments as such segmentation will no longer be reflective of the way we manage those businesses.

 

  Our GPU business is comprised primarily of our GeForce products that support desktop and notebook personal computers, or PCs, in addition to memory products. Our PSB is comprised of our NVIDIA Quadro professional workstation products and other professional graphics products, including our NVIDIA Tesla high-performance computing products. Our MCP business, as we have reported it through fiscal year 2010, has been comprised primarily of ION mGPU products.   Our ION family of products addresses the integrated core logic market.  Our CPB is comprised of our Tegra mobile products that support tablets and smartbooks, smartphones, personal media players, or PMPs, internet television, automotive navigation, and other similar devices. CPB also includes license, royalty, other revenue and associated costs related to video game consoles and other digital consumer electronics devices.  Original equipment manufacturers, original design manufacturers, add-in-card manufacturers, system builders and consumer electronics companies worldwide utilize our processors as a core component of their entertainment, business and professional solutions.

 

  We were incorporated in California in April 1993 and reincorporated in Delaware in April 1998. Our headquarter facilities are in Santa Clara, California. Our Internet address is www.nvidia.com. The contents of our website are not a part of this Form 10-K.



Recent Developments, Future Objectives and Challenges

 

GPU Business

 

During fiscal year 2010, we introduced our next generation