NVIDIA selling Titan X directly via channel partners

In case of NVIDIA's Founders Edition video cards, there seems to be a big difference versus the company's words and actions. NVIDIA claims the Founders Edition cards are not meant to compete against partners, and points out that the Founders Edition helps resolve video card design problems. However, a report by DigiTimes writes NVIDIA's add-in board partners are still convinced that NVIDIA is trying to enter the high-end branded video card market.

One example of this is the new Pascal-based Titan X video card. Not only is NVIDIA not allowing its partners to create custom versions of the Titan X, it's also cutting out the AIBs completely by selling the cards via channel partners in each region. Thanks to this strategy, NVIDIA is expected to pull in more profit from its Titan X sales, but at the expense of souring relations with its long-term partners.

For its previous Founder Edition products, Nvidia had its downstream graphics card partners help sell them in the channel; however, for the Titan X, Nvidia has decided to have channel distributers in each region sell the cards. In Taiwan, Nvidia's Titan X graphics card will be distributed by channel distributor Synnex. With the strategy, Nvidia is expected to see strong profits from sales of the Titan X.