Via aims at Intel with IDT chip unit buy
By Bloomberg News
Special to CNET News.com
August 5, 1999, 4:15 a.m. PT
Via Technologies, the world's No. 2 computer chip set maker, said it will buy the microprocessor division of Integrated Device Technology and will share technology with the company, stepping up its effort to challenge Intel in the chip set market.
Via said it will buy IDT's WinChip microprocessor unit and its X86 microprocessor design team and will cross-license technology used in computer and communications chips. Financial details of the arrangement have yet to be decided.
"IDT is an extremely abundant source of microprocessor design and production," said Frank Jeng, a spokesman for Taipei- based Via. "The purchase will further solidify our strategy" and improve Via's competitive edge, he added.
The acquisition is Via's second this month as it seeks to surpass Intel in the production of chip sets, components that manage the flow of information between different parts of a computer. Via earlier said it will pay as much as $167 million to buy most of National Semiconductor's unprofitable Cyrix unit, which makes low-priced computer chips.
Via's aggressive expansion is expected to put pressure on Intel and Advanced Micro Devices to reduce prices further in a market that was highly profitable until last year, when Intel cut the price of its Celeron chip, some analysts said.
For California-based IDT, the disposal of the microprocessor unit allows it to exit a business that has been hurt by stiff price competition.
The sale "will enable IDT to intensify its focus on the company's core communications business," chief executive Len Perham said in a statement.
Copyright 1999, Bloomberg L.P. All Rights Reserved.
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