In an article at News.com, the CEO of Nvidia, Jen-Hsun Huang, about the future of his company in a number of markets, including the gaming market. Nvidia manufactures the video gear in Microsoft's XBox as well as accelerator cards for use in PCs and workstations. Huang is very optimistic about the technical advantages the XBox platform offers. Asked about the impact of the XBox on his company's finances in a volatile gaming market, Huang said:

We've been rather conservative with our projections of Xbox contributions to our revenues. But, ultimately, you're right. The success of Xbox will completely depend on the greatness of the games that are available on the Xbox. [...] But from our perspective, there's nothing wrong with being conservative on the financial side and if the program is as successful as I expect it to be, there will be a lot of upsides in price for the financial community.

I find this interesting because it may mean a few things. One, MS might not have guaranteed Nvidia any contract for XBox parts beyond what they need for the launch. In that case, they wouldn't be able to know for sure they will make more revenue than the initial order if the XBox doesn't sell well. Or, it may mean that they have a revenue sharing agreement in place with Microsoft, so perhaps they don't get paid at all unless units sell.