The Apple/Raycer Connection

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
A lot of have, over the years speculated about what Apple is going to do with the Raycer buy out. Well folks, you have already witnessed it, but there is more coming.



Nvidia does not manufacture their own chips right? So, who is making these GPU's for Apple? Well, APPLE! A guess, not far from the truth I would say it is fair to say that Apple bought Raycer for their manufacturing plants to manufacture Nvidia's chipset for Apple.



Just my 2¢

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 15
    eddivelyeddively Posts: 74member
    huh...<clicks in>..makes sense to me...

    so that would also provide Apple with the opportunity to make some high end graphic cards to go with their Pro level SW--specially with the Nothing Real take over..

    well..good luck Apple..i hope you impress me.
  • Reply 2 of 15
    fotnsfotns Posts: 301member
    [quote]Originally posted by unknown_source:

    <strong>Nvidia does not manufacture their own chips right?</strong><hr></blockquote>

    Wrong. Nvidia designs the chips and contracts the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company to make the GPUs, whose fabs make them all. The card manufacturers then buy the chips from nvidia and assemble the cards. <a href="http://www.visiontek.com"; target="_blank">Visiontek</a> is Apple's OEM supplier for the Geforce.



    [ 05-05-2002: Message edited by: FotNS ]</p>
  • Reply 3 of 15
    [quote]Originally posted by FotNS:

    <strong>

    Wrong. Nvidia designs the chips and contracts the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company to make the GPUs, whose fabs make them all. The card manufacturers then buy the chips from nvidia and assemble the cards. <a href="http://www.visiontek.com"; target="_blank">Visiontek</a> is Apple's OEM supplier for the Geforce.



    [ 05-05-2002: Message edited by: FotNS ]</strong><hr></blockquote>



    It is not that I do not trust you, because the website states they do a lot of work with Nvidia, but how are you so sure?



    [ 05-05-2002: Message edited by: unknown_source ]</p>
  • Reply 4 of 15
    wmfwmf Posts: 1,164member
    It's well known that nVidia contracts out their manufacturing. In an interview their CEO said they aren't really a hardware company; they just write code and send it to TSMC and it comes back as chips.



    Given how small of a company Raycer was, it's unlikely that they had any billion-dollar fabs.
  • Reply 5 of 15
    fotnsfotns Posts: 301member
    I know because I have followed Nvida and used their cards for over 3 1/2 years. I also read:<a href="http://news.com.com/2100-1040-896850.html?legacy=cnet&tag=lthd"; target="_blank">News.com</a>
  • Reply 6 of 15
    fotnsfotns Posts: 301member
    As for Visiontek, click on Corporate and then About Us and read down about 2/3.



    [ 05-05-2002: Message edited by: FotNS ]</p>
  • Reply 7 of 15
    And just in case you don't feel like looking:

    "VisionTek's OEM customers include Apple, Compaq, Gateway, IBM and Micron; its retailers include Best Buy, CompUSA, Electronics Boutique, Fry's and Gamestop. "
  • Reply 8 of 15
    bellebelle Posts: 1,574member
    When will this Raycer thing ever go away?!



    Raycer didn't have any mass fab facilities. One of Raycer's founders (Jay Duruk) still holds the most interesting patents. Raycer's staff were scattered to the four winds, most ending up at SGI and Nvidia. Most of those that went to Apple have now left.



    Look <a href="http://www.pulse3d.com/about/management/index.asp"; target="_blank">here</a> and scroll down to "Abe Mammem" to find out what happened to one of Apple's most valuable acquisitions from Raycer.



    Now <a href="http://www.pcmag.com/article/0,2997,s=1582&a=24992,00.asp"; target="_blank">this</a> is altogether much more interesting...



    [ 05-05-2002: Message edited by: Belle ]</p>
  • Reply 9 of 15
    kurtkurt Posts: 225member
    [quote]Originally posted by Belle:

    <strong>



    Look <a href="http://www.pulse3d.com/about/management/index.asp"; target="_blank">here</a> and scroll down to "Abe Mammem" to find out what happened to one of Apple's most valuable acquisitions from Raycer.





    [ 05-05-2002: Message edited by: Belle ]</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Sometimes I wonder what Apple could do if they still had half the talented people that left.
  • Reply 10 of 15
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    The "Raycer, when?" threads have been driving me nuts too. There was no super-secret raycer chip. They bought the some talent and some patents, some research, and some technology concepts. That's all. It might bear fruit directly, and it might not, ever. Sometimes tech companies do that. If the price is right, little guys get bought out all the time. Sometimes for the reasons just mentioned, and sometimes to avoid patent disputes: you're wotking on something, they're woking on something, nobody's sure who's going to be first, so instead of potentially going to court, you become an investor/owner and protect your intrests through acquisition. That might also explain why people left -- Apple could have already been working on similar stuff and had their own people in place, they just needed a little security in the area of intellectual property.



    Look at all the little technologies that get bought out by IBM or Bell. Those are both huge labs that can pretty much develop anything technological, but they still buy potentially neat stuff all the time.



    [ 05-05-2002: Message edited by: Matsu ]</p>
  • Reply 11 of 15
    jlljll Posts: 2,713member
    [quote]Originally posted by FotNS:

    <strong>

    Wrong. Nvidia designs the chips and contracts the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company to make the GPUs, whose fabs make them all. The card manufacturers then buy the chips from nvidia and assemble the cards. <a href="http://www.visiontek.com"; target="_blank">Visiontek</a> is Apple's OEM supplier for the Geforce.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Then why can't they supply Apple with the GeForce 4 cards?



    ;-)
  • Reply 12 of 15
    programmerprogrammer Posts: 3,457member
    [quote]Originally posted by Kurt:

    <strong>

    Sometimes I wonder what Apple could do if they still had half the talented people that left.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    People circulate between companies quite quickly in Silicon Valley -- there are just too many potential opportunities and switching jobs usually involves a raise. Apple is just part of that chain... for every talent person you hear leaving Apple there is probably another coming in to take his/her place.



    Apple doesn't make chips themselves, and neither did Raycer. Fabs are enormous capital investments (billions & billions of dollars), and the companies which do make these investments typically contract their services to whomever wants them so that they can maximize their return on investment.



    The Raycer people at Apple were probably just involved in Apple's OpenGL and other software efforts. OpenGL is still very relevant -- it is the only API other than DirectX, and that only exists on the Windows platform. If the OpenGL ARB gets their act together and delivers on OGL2 in a reasonable timeframe then it will remain largely on par with DX9.
  • Reply 13 of 15
    xypexype Posts: 672member
    [quote]Originally posted by JLL:

    <strong>Then why can't they supply Apple with the GeForce 4 cards?</strong><hr></blockquote>

    I think there was/is a general lack of GeForce4 Ti chips from NVidia, in the x86 world as well..
  • Reply 14 of 15
    jlljll Posts: 2,713member
    [quote]Originally posted by xype:

    <strong>

    I think there was/is a general lack of GeForce4 Ti chips from NVidia, in the x86 world as well..</strong><hr></blockquote>



    It's just that they say that they were the first to bring the GeForce4 to market - it didn't help Apple though
  • Reply 15 of 15
    brendonbrendon Posts: 642member
    [quote]Originally posted by unknown_source:

    <strong>A lot of have, over the years speculated about what Apple is going to do with the Raycer buy out. Well folks, you have already witnessed it, but there is more coming.



    Nvidia does not manufacture their own chips right? So, who is making these GPU's for Apple? Well, APPLE! A guess, not far from the truth I would say it is fair to say that Apple bought Raycer for their manufacturing plants to manufacture Nvidia's chipset for Apple.



    Just my 2¢</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I will venture a guess. Raycer was bought to help Apple better understand how to add hardware acceleration to Quartz which was designed prior to HA. This sounds easy but maybe Apple really wanted to do it right. And/or Raycer was bought to design new capabilities in Altivec, or in a new PPC.
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