NVIDIA Fermi GPU delayed until March 2010?

NVIDIA's Fermi 40nm GPU won't make its expected late-2009 launch, and nor will it be ready in time for CES 2010 in January, according to DigiTimes' sources at graphics card manufacturers.  The rumor-mongers claim that NVIDIA have been telling producers to only expect the DirectX 11-compatible Fermi chips in March 2010, and suggest that defects have prompted the delay.

NVIDIA, for their part, have declined to comment on "unannounced products", and would not confirm that the chips were first expected in November this year and then initially delayed until CES.  The first chip is expected to be the Fermi-GF100, using GDDR5 memory, and arriving in March, while NVIDIA are believed to be readying a GF104 version for Q2 2010 to target the high-end market with its GeForce GTX295/285/275/260.

Elsewhere, the same sources are suggesting that ATI are preparing to offer their own 40nm Radeon HD 5670/5570 (Redwood) and HD 5450 (Cedar) GPUs in January or February 2010.