* New campus on hold after new building leased
* PC gaming-related products boost 4th-quarter revenue
* Projects 1st-qtr rev of $1.05 bln, plus/minus 2 pct
* Shares up 3 pct after-hours
By Noel Randewich
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Graphics chipmaker Nvidia Corp has halted plans to build a flashy new campus that could have rivaled the architectural ambitions of major Silicon Valley neighbors like Facebook Inc and Apple Inc .
Nvidia said a year ago it would use property it owns across the street from its current headquarters in Santa Clara, California, to construct one, and eventually two, eco-friendly buildings in the shape of triangles. The triangle is a basic building block in video game graphics.
But Chief Executive Jen-Hsun Huang said on Wednesday that Nvidia put the project on hold after leasing office space late last year in a existing building by its headquarters.
"We will absolutely need a new campus eventually. In the short term, with this new facility, we're in pretty good shape," Huang said in an interview.
Earlier on Wednesday, Nvidia posted higher fiscal fourth-quarter revenue that beat Wall Street's expectations, fueled by the chipmaker's PC gaming components, even as it grapples with an expansion beyond computers and into mobile devices.
When Nvidia unveiled plans for its new campus a year ago, Huang wrote a blogpost showing off images of buildings with vast open floors optimized for "cross-functional work," with skylights in the shape of criss-crossed triangles taking up almost all of the buildings' roofs.
Nvidia has been just one of many Silicon Valley tech companies to plan major headquarter improvements in recent years.
Apple has been planning a massive new, ring-shaped structure near its Cupertino headquarters, while Facebook intends to expand its campus in Menlo Park, with the roofs of buildings doubling as park space in a project the size of 7-1/2 football fields.
Nvidia's decision not to launch into its construction project shows prudent restraint on the part of Huang, said RBC analyst Doug Freedman.
The company has about 3,300 employees at its headquarters, some of whom have already moved into the newly leased building.
"I like the fact they're not building a new campus. It's almost historically been a great investment short indicator when a company goes out and builds itself a new campus," Freedman said. "It distracts management's attention from the issues that allowed them to build the campus."
Nvidia is at a critical juncture. With the personal computer industry losing steam, Nvidia has expanded its graphics expertise into mobile devices. But it is meeting stiff competition from larger Qualcomm Inc and has responded by increasing its focus on automotive markets and other areas.