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To: blake_paterson who wrote (63780)	1/5/2001 8:18:21 PM
From: blake_paterson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

VIA surprises gloomy sector By Dan Nystedt in Taipei Published: January 4 2001 20:07GMT \| Last Updated: January 5 2001 10:23GMT news.ft.com More disinformation/BS from Via (see bold section)! VIA Technologies of Taiwan, the world's number-two chipset maker, on Thursday said its sales rose 171 per cent to $936m last calendar year. Although the increase was in line with some analysts' expectations, the news drove the Taiwan-based company's share price up 6.8 per cent to T$205 ($6.26), sharply outperforming the broader Taiwan market. The sales increase - based on monthly sales reports and not yet finalised - surprised many investors due to the meltdown in global PC sales during the fourth quarter last year. During that time, VIA's share price fell 60 per cent from its high last year to finish 2000 at T$182 per share. Despite Thursday's rise, the company's reliance on sales to PC manufacturers remains its biggest stumbling-block over the coming year. VIA made its name by providing chipsets for Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, two of the world's largest central processing unit makers. VIA said: "AMD is doing very well with its their Athlon and Duron products and we have 90 per cent of the [chipset] market for those chips." Chipsets manage the flow of information between the central processing unit and computer memory chips. VIA took an estimated 35 per cent of the world market for chipsets last year, while Intel maintained its top ranking with 55 per cent. The product accounted for nearly 90 per cent of VIA's sales last year. VIA expects to increase its share of the chipset market to more than 40 per cent this year, on the back of new products. The company was first to market with its double data rate - or DDR 266 - chipsets for Intel and AMD's top-end processors. DDR 266 chipsets double the rate at which data travels between the computer's memory chip and its CPU - thereby making the computer run much faster. A joint venture with US-based S3 to integrate graphics functions on VIA chipsets and increased sales of Cyrix III, VIA's own brand of CPU, are also expected to boost the company's earnings next year. However, the slowdown in the PC market could still take its toll. Credit Lyonnais predicts VIA's sales will only hit T$43bn ($1.3bn) in 2001, a year-on-year increase of 38 per cent which is sharply lower than last year's surge. But have they sold any? BP