Nvidia revenue outlook misses, PC and tablet chips slow

Nvidia is putting the finishing touches on Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, which Huang said is necessary to move beyond tablets and compete against Qualcomm in high-end smartphone chips.

"We're working around the clock," Huang said. "We'll have some phone success this year but we're not expecting to have a whole lot of phone design wins until we have, until we engage the market, with LTE."

NO RESURGENCE

Microsoft's long-awaited launch of Windows 8 in October brought touchscreen features to laptops but failed to spark a resurgence in sales that Nvidia and other PC chipmakers and manufacturers had hoped for.

Nvidia's traditional PC graphics chip business, which accounts for most of the company's revenue, grew 7 percent in the fourth quarter versus the year-ago quarter after the company gained market share.

Revenue in Nvidia's Tegra group, the bulk of which comes from Tegra sales, grew 90 percent year over year, to $208 million in the quarter.

The company also said it expects to break ground this year on a new building at its headquarters to accommodate growth.

Nvidia plans in the second quarter to start shipping a new hand-held gaming device with the upcoming Tegra 4 processor and a built-in screen. The device, referred to as Project Shield, runs Android games currently found on smartphones and tablets and can also stream video games from PCs.

Nvidia expects to sell them through brick-and-mortar and online retailers, Huang told Reuters in an interview. Asked how many he expects to sell, Huang was

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