Something is definitely going on between Intel and Nvidia, and it’s possible that a settlement could be announced after the market closes today, sources said.
[UPDATE: Yes, they settled, in a new $1.5 billion licensing deal. Story to come.]
The two had been scheduled to go to trial in December in the Delaware Chancery Court, but the parties agreed to reschedule that.
Soon, word of settlement talks surfaced. Still, as recently as last week, a source familiar with the matter said a trial was on track for February. Now, other sources are saying that may not be the case, which would suggest a settlement is imminent.
Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang declined to discuss the Intel dispute in an interview with Mobilized’s Ina Fried at D@CES last week.
The fight between the two tech giants is over the terms of a 2004 agreement under which Intel granted Nvidia access to some of Intel’s technology for use in its chipsets, the chips that sit between the microprocessor and the graphics chip like connecting tissue. The cross-licensing agreement allowed Nvidia to make chipsets that were compatible with Intel microprocessors.