Uh oh-----S3
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S3's rebound hinges on delivery of 0.18-micron graphics ICs
A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc.
Story posted 9 a.m. EST/6 a.m., PST, 6/11/99
By Will Wade
SANTA CLARA, Calif. ( ChipWire/EET) -- S3 Inc. here hopes to return to its once-dominant position in
the PC graphics market with a pair of high-performance notebook graphics solutions. Although the new
mobile Savage devices are expected to deliver performance comparable to that of today's desktop systems,
the company must make good on its word, and ship the parts on time to meet upcoming design cycles,
analysts said.
The Savage/MX and Savage/IX accelerators both feature up to 16 Mbytes of memory and are the first
graphics chips to be produced at the 0.18-micron level, according to Carrell Killebrew, director of
mobile-product marketing for S3.
The MX is a discrete design with off-chip memory, while the IX uses a multichip module. The parts have
been sampling since January and are scheduled to ship in volume by the end of this month, S3 said on
Monday when launching the devices. The 0.18-micron ICs are being fabricated by Taiwan's UMC Group
foundry (see June 7 story).
"This is what we think the future of notebook graphics is like," said S3's Killebrew. "It compares favorably
with any graphics seen in a desktop system, so there's no need to make any compromises by using a
notebook."
The move to address the notebook market is a return to the company's roots. "S3 was very much a notebook
company several years ago, but when they hit hard times, they lost most of their notebook engineers," said
analyst Jon Peddie, president of research firm Jon Peddie Associates in Tiburon, Calif. "But S3 is now on
the rebound, and they are coming back strong."
S3 struggled to keep up with evolving technology requirements, and some products came too late to the
marketplace. Meanwhile, powerful competitors emerged, such as Nvidia Corp. and ATI Technologies Inc.
Currently, ATI holds the top market slot, and will be loath to give it up.
"For S3 to reclaim the No. 1 position, ATI would have to die and S3 would have to do a better job," said
Peter Glaskowsky, senior graphics analyst for MicroDesign Resources in Sunnyvale, Calif. Although ATI
seems to be rolling along like an unstoppable graphics train, S3 is doing its best to beef up its product line.
"S3 really needs a wider range of products, and they need to deliver them more effectively," Glaskowsky
said.
Both new chips support dual monitor functions, and can deliver a Winbench 3-D rating of up to 500, using a
450-MHz Pentium III microprocessor, Killebrew said. He said that figure beats the performance of any other
currently available mobile graphics chip. Running at 1.8 V, the mobile Savage chips use one-third the power
of a desktop product, Killebrew said.
No matter how solid the products may be, analyst Peddie said the Savage chips may be arriving too late in the
design cycle to be considered for the back-to-school sales wave. "They have missed that cycle window, and
that is critical in this business," he said. "And if they are too late to get design wins from companies like Dell,
Compaq or IBM, they will have to turn to second-tier suppliers for the initial sales."
However, Peddie doesn't doubt the parts will find homes. "S3's ability to get back into the notebook market
is not a slam dunk, but the company has some loyal OEM friends, and they will likely have easy access to the
sales channel if the part performs as they say it does."
The discrete Savage/MX is priced at $42, while the integrated Savage/IX lists at $49 with 4 Mbytes of
in-package memory, $56 for the 8-Mbyte version and $68 with 16 Mbytes of memory. All prices are for
1,000-unit shipments.
S3 and many of its competitors have sometimes been guilty of overhyping a part before it launches, which
can generate advance buzz but leave customers ultimately disappointed if the chip is late or under performs.
S3 in particular can trace part of its steep decline over the past few years to late launches, which Glaskowsky
said resulted in introducing too little, too late.
For that reason, Peddie believes S3 is "walking the straight and narrow." The company can't afford to let its
customers harbor any more doubts, he said. "S3 is probably telling it like it is. That's really what they have
to do," he said.
thedewar |
