Although Nvidia's NV40 may have taped out and is well on schedule, it would seem that ATI may have the jump on their southern rivals since the company appears ready to ship its R420 chips to its partners. Apparently ATI's new chip taped out in December, almost at the same time as Nvidia's offering, the NV40 however, will not ship to partners until February.
Although this time difference in the development process of the chips may not appear significant at first glance, it may become important since ATI could obtain a one month advantage over Nvidia. Both new chips will be introduced at this year's CeBIT show, so any time advantage by one manufacturer over the other could prove important in maintaining an effective supply chain.
Details of clock speeds etc for the new chips cannot even be guessed at yet but both offerings will not really represent a major leap for the hardware arsenal of the companies but just a significant upgrade. ATI is alreadty working on a new, faster product, while Nvidia, no doubt, are doing the same.
