Nvidia already made it clear earlier this month that it's closely eyeing the netbook chipset market. What you may not know is that the company has also partnered up with Intel to provide an integrated graphics chipset for Atom-based nettops—or at least, that's what DigiTimes has gathered from "sources at PC vendors."
The site says Nvidia will support Intel's Atom processors with its current MCP79 chipset. If I have my code-names right, the MCP79 is the same single-chip solution that powers Apple's new MacBooks and GeForce 9300/9400-series desktop motherboards. DigiTimes writes that the MCP79/Atom combo will only appear in nettops (low-cost desktops) "during the initial period."
Nvidia announced a desktop platform for Via's processors back in April, and the rumor mill later hinted that the two companies abandoned plans for a similar mobile platform. Allegedly, Nvidia used the concept as a bargaining chip so Intel would agree to let it offer chipsets for Atom systems. Reports from the same sources say Via and Nvidia are still working on a desktop platform for the Nano CPU, however.
