Next-Generation nForce Platform Processors with High-Speed Connectivity Drive Digital Media Experience

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Bryan Del Rizzo
NVIDIA Corporation
(408) 486-2772
bdelrizzo@nvidia.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

USB 2.0 DEVELOPERS CONFERENCE — SANTA CLARA, CA — JUNE 11, 2002 —NVIDIA® Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA), the worldwide market share leader in visual platform technologies, today announced that its next-generation family of nForce™ Platform Processors will support Universal Serial Bus 2.0 (USB 2.0), a high-speed bus interface used to connect a myriad of digital devices, including handheld computers, digital cameras and optical mice.

“NVIDIA’s decision to incorporate support for USB 2.0 into their next-generation nForce platform technology will contribute to their continued success in the integrated core-logic market,” said Brian O’Rourke, Senior Analyst at In-Stat/MDR.  “USB 2.0-compliant devices will dominate retail shelves this Fall, and consumers will naturally gravitate towards PCs and motherboards that are able to accommodate the connection to the widest variety of digital devices out of the box.”

“With their high level of integrated features, including industry-leading graphics, audio and networking technologies, NVIDIA’s nForce Platform Processors can form the foundation of many different devices, including desktop PCs, game consoles, and set-top boxes,” said Drew Henry, senior director of platform product management at NVIDIA.  “USB 2.0 provides a high-speed digital connection to today’s and tomorrow’s hottest digital devices, and allows NVIDIA to bring its core-logic expertise to a variety of different markets, and help drive the convergence of the PC into every platform and market imaginable.”

USB 2.0—dubbed “Hi-Speed USB 2.0” in the marketplace by the USB Implementer’s Forum (USB-IF)—increases the speed of the peripheral to PC connection from 12Mbps on USB 1.1 to up to 480Mbps on USB 2.0, or 40 times faster.  The higher bandwidth is a major boost for such external peripherals as CD/DVD burners, scanners, digital cameras and hard drives.  The increased bandwidth of USB 2.0 also makes it the logical connectivity choice for demanding PC user environments—including digital image creation, Web development and publishing, networked video conferencing and 3D gaming—where multiple, high-speed devices are used simultaneously.

PCs and motherboards featuring NVIDIA’s nForce Platform Processors are currently available from hundreds of system motherboard manufacturers, PC OEMs and system builders worldwide, including: Alienware, ASUStek, Compaq, Falcon Northwest, Hewlett-Packard, Fujitsu-Siemens, MicronPC, MSI, NEC and more.  Products featuring NVIDIA’s next-generation nForce Platform Processors will be available later this year.

For information on where to buy NVIDIA products, access the NVIDIA Web site at http://www.nvidia.com/content/wheretobuy/default.asp.

About USB-IF
The non-profit USB Implementers Forum Inc. was formed to provide a support organization and forum for the advancement and adoption of USB technology.  The USB-IF facilitates the development of high-quality, compatible USB devices, and promotes the benefits of USB and the quality of products that have passed compliance testing.  Further information, including postings of the most recent product and technology announcements, is available by visiting the USB-IF Web site at www.usb.org.

About NVIDIA nForce
Designed and optimized to take advantage of AMD’s latest CPUs, the nForce platform processors—the nForce Integrated Graphics Processor (IGP), the nForce System Platform Processor (SPP) and nForce Media and Communications Processor (MCP)—integrate a myriad of innovative features, all of which reaffirm NVIDIA’s technology leadership in the integrated core-logic market.  In addition to the award-winning GeForce-based Graphics Processing Unit, dual 64-bit memory controllers, and uniquely flexible architecture, the nForce platform processors also feature the industry’s only integrated Audio Processing Unit (APU), the same audio technology found in the Microsoft® Xbox® game console.  Through its use of a multi-DSP engine, the NVIDIA-designed APU provides hardware processing for up to 256 simultaneous voices and special effects; encodes Dolby® Digital 5.1 audio streams in real-time; and consumes the smallest amount of CPU overhead—when measured against all other add-in card PC audio solutions available today. And, by using the high-speed HyperTransport bus technology as the digital connection between the two platform processors, NVIDIA’s nForce architecture provides substantially more bandwidth to allow for a truly media-rich, multi-tasking environment, perfect for digital video editing, Internet audio streaming, 3D gaming and photo manipulation.

About NVIDIA
NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq - NVDA), located in Santa Clara, CA, is the global leader in advanced graphics and multimedia processing technology for the consumer and professional computing markets. Its 2D, 3D, video and multimedia capabilities make NVIDIA one of the premier semiconductor companies in the world. NVIDIA offers a wide range of products and services, delivering superior performance and crisp visual quality for PC-based applications such as manufacturing, science, e-business, entertainment and education.

Certain statements in this press release, including the statements relating to the Company's performance expectations for NVIDIA's family of products and expectations of continued revenue growth, are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations.  Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, manufacturing and other delays relating to new products, difficulties in the fabrication process and dependence of the Company on third-party manufacturers, general industry trends including cyclical trends in the PC and semiconductor industries, the impact of competitive products and pricing alternatives, market acceptance of the Company's new products, and the Company's dependence on third-party developers and publishers.  Investors are advised to read the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly those sections entitled "Certain Business Risks," for a fuller discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties.

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