To anyone who listen to the CC, reread this old news and read between the lines and it should fill in "between the lines" what was being said on the call. Pay close attention to "all future integrated chipsets comments" for the sub-$1000 market.
<<< S3, Intel in tech licensing deal
By Michael Kanellos
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
December 17, 1998, 12:15 p.m. PT
update Graphics vendor S3 has become the latest company to
land a technology licensing deal with Intel, a trend that may lead to the emergence of low-cost parts for set-top boxes, information
appliances, and cheap computers based on Intel ideas.
The agreement--which follows a technology swap between Via
Technologies and Intel, and is expected to be followed by deals between the chip giant, SiS, Acer Laboratories, and others--will likely have far reaching implications for the industry.
In the future, Intel-based parts won't just come from Intel. Instead, they will emerge from a series of smaller competitors like S3, which plans to produce new 3D chips, chipsets with 3D capabilities for inexpensive computers, and even processors for handheld computers and the like that
depend upon Intel intellectual property.
Not only will this mean cheaper parts, it will lead potentially to the further expansion of Intel's chip technology in the low-end computer market and even non-PC markets.
Bergman said that S3 has access to all of Intel's patents,
including patents to the Pentium II. S3, however,is limited in how the company can incorporate these patents into actual products.
In any event, S3 has "no desire to develop microprocessors that will compete head to head against Intel," Bergman said. But, because Intel is not as yet entrenched in the handheld or
set-top market, the deal could see the emergence of S3 system-on-a-chip devices. These chips could serve as microprocessors or merely graphics chips. S3 is being fairly cryptic on the subject, but executives at the company
have said that S3's intellectual property portofolio creates "opportunities."
Today's deal will help ensure that S3 doesn't miss another design
cycle. In addition, as integrated chipsets become more popular, S3
will not have to worry about getting access to bus technology. Other competitors who have not signed deals with Intel, however, might. >>>>>>>
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