McEngel,
Want a good laugh? Without Intels approval...yeah right. LOL
Intel probably sends daily faxes and e-mails...
Via May Make Pentium 4 Chipset Without Intel Approval
Taipei, Nov. 1, (Bloomberg) -- Via Technologies, Inc., the world's No. 2 computer chipset designer, said it will make a chipset enabling high-speed memory chips to be used with Intel's Pentium 4 processor, possibly without permission from the No. 1 chipmaker.
Via plans to introduce its PX266 chipset supporting double data rate, or DDR, memory for the Pentium 4 processor during the first quarter of next year, Taiwan's Commercial Times said today.
``It is our plan to make a DDR chipset for the Pentium 4,'' said Timothy Chen, a Via spokesman in California. ``I can't comment about the timeframe.''
Chipsets manage the flow of information between a processor and other parts of a computer such as memory and the display. Without supporting chipsets, new processors such as the Pentium 4 cannot be designed into computing systems.
When the Pentium 4 is introduced during this month, Intel will offer its Tehama 850 chipset supporting memory chips based on a design from Rambus Inc. Intel has yet to set a schedule for its own DDR chipset for the Pentium 4.
``We are still investigating the DDR options,'' said Evia Shum, an Intel spokeswoman in Hong Kong. ``I can't comment on the Via strategy.''
Until August this year, Intel said that the Pentium 4 processor would work only with Rambus memory. Since that time, Intel said it would consider adopting several memory standards, including DDR, for the new processor. The company also canceled a plan to make another processor called Timna, in part because supplies of Rambus chips were insufficient.
Rambus
Because Rambus memory chips are nearly twice as expensive as alternatives, computer makers have tended not to use them. Rambus chips currently claim less than 5 percent of the memory chip market. That could have a crucial effect on market adoption of the Pentium 4, according to Via and industry analysts.
``Intel will have a big hole in their roadmap for the next six months,'' said Chen of Intel's Rambus chipset. ``Next year will be the most trying time for Intel.''
Rambus shares fell $9.75 to $43.69 at the close of trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange in the U.S. yesterday, following a report in trade publication Electronic Buyers' News saying that Intel will drop Rambus from all of its products except high-end workstations by mid 2001.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Intel's next-largest competitor, now claims the high end of the processor business with its Athlon chip, Chen said. AMD announced a chipset last week based on a Via design that supports DDR memory.
``AMD's new 760 DDR platform represents the latest in a string of winning platform advances left uncontested by rival chipmaker Intel,'' said Bert McComas, principal analyst with InQuest Market Research. ``While Athlon and DDR continue to gain momentum, the Pentium III and Rambus DRAM are languishing in its shadow.''
Intel has licensed some chipset suppliers to provide products for the Pentium 4 that will go on the market during the fourth quarter of this year, Chief Executive Craig Barrett said in Taipei last week. He declined to say which chipset makers have been licensed.
Via's Chen declined to comment on whether his company is one of the Intel licensees.
Via shares fell NT$8, or the 3.5 percent limit allowed by the Taiwan government, to NT$224 today at the close of trading on the Taiwan stock exchange.
Via's shares have fallen 52 percent from their annual high of NT$466 on Sept. 5.
Nov/01/2000 1:37 ET
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