RR & Kash, on Via & Intel:
Anybody else remember Intel talking about shipping 80-90% of processors bundled with mobos by the end of the year? It was just a few months ago. I figured after that Via and Co. would be pretty wary, but who knows?
Personally, I somewhat agree with what one of the Intel FUDsters is saying on the other thread, the chipset business has to be sort of a loss leader for Intel, where it's more to enable CPU sales than to generate profits. At the least they can't be getting anything like CPU margins on the chipset business. The packaging has to be at least as expensive as a CPU, and with all the junk in the 815 anyway, the die size must be approaching CPU size too, but the chipsets go for <$50/unit. With Intel strapped for fab capacity to begin with and trying to find room for the big Willy die, it's not exactly a surprise that they're willing to cut a deal with Via, short term.
From AMD's point of view, I'm just glad there are multiple efforts on the DDR front. Though it's a little disconcerting that both Via and Micron, at least, are talking about P3 DDR chipsets being available before Athlon. Mostly, we have to hope that AMD will get their own chipset out on time, and that they can scrounge up the fab capacity if needed. Must be lots of capacity juggling going on in fabs everywhere, despite the impending crash of the semiconductor sector :-).
Cheers, Dan. |
