The REGISTER thinks FTC will not like Intel investing in another graphics chip maker (S3). theregister.co.uk
S3, Intel cuddle up
Chip giant Intel is to buy a stake in graphics chip company S3, according to American reports. But the move, if the reports are true, are likely to enrage the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a division of the US government.
Wire Techweb today reported that Intel and S3 have entered into a 10-year cross licensing agreement. It will cover all aspects of S3's technology, the wire revealed. But S3 bought up many patents earlier this year, after a putative Apple start up fell flat on its face.
Intel refused to confirm or deny the reports, although it is an obvious move for it.
Third party graphics chips suppliers form a significant part of the USA versus Intel show slated to start February, latest. ®
Apparently the patents owned by S3 are infringed on by the Pentium II design. It appears that S3 is getting an undisclosed sum of cash and Intel gets the rights to use S3's patents. S3 gets the rights to use Intel patents on the Pentium II bus and possibly much more. It appears to me that S3 may be able to use these to make chipsets, probably with high performance 3D graphics support built in.
Here's where speculation gets interesting. First, will the FTC allow it? Second, what can AMD do about it? If AMD were to buy S3, AMD would also have the same rights to Intel patents that S3 got -- including the P6 bus. Perhaps that is why Intel got warrants for their investment. These warrants will skyrocket if AMD were to purchase S3 and AMD would be forced to negotiate with Intel to buy out Intel's stake in S3, or live with the absurdity of Intel owning a piece of an AMD subsidiary.
I consider S3 a diamond in the rough -- good products but poor marketing, and cash-starved as well. I believe integration of 3D graphics into the chipsets will be a necessity within a year or two for the bottom half of PC's. I hope Intel doesn't get away with stealing yet another graphics chip company. 3DFX or ATI might be a bit too rich for AMD's bank account, soon to be enriched (apparently) by a spinoff or sale of Vantis.
Petz |
