Looks like Intel is delivering the old knife in the back to its partner SiS - having convinced SiS to emphasize support for P4 instead of Athlon, Intel is now launching 3 new chipsets targeted at SiS's market. It's a good lesson for Nvidia and VIA:
Charles Chou, Taipei; Christy Lee, DigiTimes.com [Monday 15 April 2002]
The already intense P4 chipset price war may be heightened even further as Intel is said to plan to launch a cheaper integrated chipset, the 845GLL (845GL Light). Currently, Intel is reportedly consulting motherboard clients’ opinions. If the response is good, Intel should be able to start shipments at the end of April or early May.
Equipped with the same north bridge chip as the 845GL and the USB 1.1-supporting ICH2 south bridge, the 845GLL is said to be quoted at below US$25.
Although Intel has conducted rather significant price cuts on its new integrated chipsets, the prices of its 845G and 845GL are relatively higher compared to its competitors, as the two chipsets adopt the more expensive, USB 2.0-based ICH4 south bridge chips.
Motherboard makers said that if Intel can broaden the price gap between its 845GL and 845GLL, the new chipset would be rather appealing to board manufacturers. Meanwhile, given that Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) has not started shipping its USB 2.0-based south bridge chip 962, the 845GLL is expected to be a considerable rival to SiS’s P4 integrated chipsets, the 650 series.
Boosted by the increasing shipments of its P4 chipsets, SiS has gradually cut into the OEM sector, one of Intel’s focus markets, with its integrated chipset SiS650. According to sources, SiS has not only landed orders for its SiS650 from Hewlett-Packard (HP) and IBM in the desktop market, but also won orders in the notebook sector from manufacturers like HP, NEC and Toshiba. Chipset shipments for notebooks of HP and NEC will start this month, with Toshiba’s expected to begin by the end of the second quarter.
To strengthen its own competitiveness, SiS recently introduced the cheaper SiS650GX. The new chipset is quoted at US$18.
digitimes.com |
