With its recent introduction of the PCIe-enabled Nvidia nForce4 media and communication processors (MCP) for AMD processors, Nvidia expects to extend its lead against other chipmakers for the world's K8 chipset market.

The company is now shipping Nvidia nForce MCPs for all lines of the AMD processor family, and Nvidia currently holds about 45% of the K8 chipset market, Henry said.

Third-quarter shipments of Nvidia's nForce chipsets doubled from the second quarter and will continue increasing rapidly in the fourth quarter, Henry said.

Motherboards and full PC systems featuring nForce 4 MCPs are expected to hit the shelves in November, Henry noted.

With the introduction of the nForce 4 chipsets, Nvidia is expected to replace Taiwan-based VIA Technologies as the world's largest vendor of K8 chipsets, according to a recent report from the Chinese-language Economic Daily News.

However, the paper quoted sources at VIA as saying that VIA is still confident it will retain its leading position in the K8 chipset market, despite Nvidia's recent gains. VIA said it shipped 300,000 K8 chipsets in August and 500,000 units in September, the paper stated.

Other sources estimate that VIA currently also holds about 45% of the K8 chipset market.

From DigiTimes