Intel Investors - Looks like the i815 is off to a good start in Taiwan with the MotherBoard manufacturers.
There are minor concerns regarding pricing, and now VIA - whose chipsets are pretty slow compared to Intel - is "ape-ing" AMD - claiming that their chip sets are CHEAPER !!!
Cheaper !!!
We have another CheapZilla besides AMD !
Paul
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Taiwan board makers praise Intel's new 815 chipset
By Faith Hung, Electronic Buyers' News
Jun 23, 2000 (1:39 PM)
URL: ebnews.com
Taipei, Taiwan Intel Corp.'s new 815 chipset has opened to rave reviews from Taiwan's motherboard makers for its performance-if not for its price.
Introduced last week, the chipset underscores Intel's efforts to finally support PC133 SDRAM after holding back for more than a year trying to get PC makers to upgrade instead to Direct Rambus DRAM. Considered a successor to the highly successful Intel 440BX chipset, the 815 offers 4XAGP graphics support and can interface with either the most advanced external graphics cards with dedicated memory or integrated graphics using the so-called Unified Memory Architecture. An 815e version includes ATA100 hard-drive support.
Intel's biggest motherboard supporters in Taiwan hailed the new PC133 chipset. "We're optimistic about the 815 chipset thanks to its great performance. On top of that, it has the 133-MHz system bus," said David Chang, a spokesman for Asustek Computer Inc.
Micro Star International Inc., another key motherboard maker, was also upbeat. "There have been positive responses from our customers," said Samuel Liu, a director at MSI. "The chipset has the potential to become a success in the market."
While the performance is attractive, Intel's prices have not met with the same enthusiasm. Initially, the 815 will be priced at $41 in lots of 1,000 for the ATA66 version and $46 for the ATA100-equipped 815e. By comparison, Via Technologies Inc.'s competing Apollo Pro133 chipset costs about $28, according to various estimates.
"At these price levels, it would be very difficult for us to sell our products," said a spokesman at a major motherboard company in Taipei, who asked not to be identified.
The 815 chipset comes at a critical time for Intel. It is losing market share to Via, which is headquartered in Taipei and whose Apollo Pro133 has had the PC133 SDRAM-enabled chipset market to itself for the past six months.
Analysts predict that Via, Silicon Integrated Systems Corp., and Acer Laboratories Inc., also of Taiwan, will own a combined 70% of the global chipset market at year's end, while Intel's share will fall to 30%. Six months ago, Intel owned 60% of the market.
"The Big Three Taiwan chipset makers now have firm business relationships with OEMs," said Bob Merritt, an analyst at Semico Research Corp. in Redwood City, Calif. "The PC makers won't be in any rush to replace existing [PC133] chipsets and go through the extra effort of qualifying a new chipset, even if it's Intel's."
Via executives said the company was unruffled by Intel's latest challenge. "The Via Apollo Pro133A is more competitively priced than the 815, and it's a very mature product with proven reliability and performance," said marketing director Richard Brown.
Others, however, said Intel's clout and the addition of a competing product will give Via a run.
"Via's operating margin is likely to slide to 24% in the third quarter following the introduction of the 815," compared with 26% in the first quarter, said Barro Liaw, who tracks Taiwan's semiconductor industry for Core Pacific Securities Investment Trust Corp.
Additional reporting by Jack Robertson |
