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To: Tony Viola who wrote (141082)	8/8/2001 10:41:43 AM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

Taiwan VIA's chipset to go head to head with Intel By Edwin Chan SHANGHAI, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Taiwan's VIA Technologies is pressing ahead with the launch of a controversial chipset designed for use with Intel (NasdaqNM:INTC - news) processors, despite legal tangles after unveiling a similar product last year. VIA is targeting an August or September launch for its P4x 266 chipset, which it claims is 25 percent cheaper than Intel's competing Brookdale product, said Ted Lee, the Taiwan firm's sales and marketing vice-president, on Wednesday. ``If our chipset product is better, and scheduled ahead of Intel's, we can grab more market share,'' Lee said, adding that it may happen in the second half. There's just one problem: Intel has not said it would grant VIA a licence to build the P4x 266, unlike rival chipset makers Silicon Integrated Systems and Acer Labs . VIA's chipset, designed for use with Intel's new line of Pentium 4 processors, would help lift the Taiwan firm's share of the chipset market to 50 percent from a current 40 percent, Lee told reporters on the sidelines of a conference. A chipset helps a computer microprocessor brain communicate with the rest of the system. Lee said VIA's chipset was not only cheaper than Intel's Brookdale 845 chipset unveiled in June, it also yielded better performance. The Brookdale is due to hit the market in the second half. TROUBLE? WHAT TROUBLE? VIA has run into high-profile legal trouble with Intel in the past for making Pentium chipsets without a licence. The firm negotiated an undisclosed, out-of-court litigation settlement with the U.S. firm in July last year. VIA Chief Executive Officer Chen Wen-chi has said his legal team advised him that launching the Pentium 4 chipset without an Intel license would not run into legal trouble, although he did not elaborate. In fact, Lee envisions VIA and Intel reconciling and working hand-in-hand to further the P4's cause. He said VIA's cheaper but comparable -- performance-wise -- chipset solution could actually make Intel's microprocessor more widely accepted. ``We can become a major partner of Intel's. This is a business judgment,'' Lee said. ``If Intel wants to generate more visibility and interest, then our chipset will be the best solution to enable Intel's P4 platform.'' The Pentium 4, Intel's fastest microprocessors for computers, won't be available in bulk until late August, Lehman Brothers wrote in a Monday research note. For now, Via is confident that Intel's top echelons would see the logic of the situation. ``If you talk to the (Intel) chipset guys, of course VIA is their major competitor. But if you talk to the corporate decision-makers, they have to justify which is better,'' Lee said. Intel is moving to replace its Pentium III microprocessor with the Pentium 4 by the end of the year.

To: Tony Viola who wrote (141082)	8/9/2001 4:39:12 AM
From: Amy J	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

Hi Tony, Yesterday, at work we received an order that's nearly half our monthly burn rate (!!!), which I think is pretty good for a startup leaving the gate (we just got FCC approval last week). I'm really happy about this order - but - who knows how often this can be repeated? PC industry has bottomed (though am curious about ASPs), but comm hasn't bottomed yet. It's pretty clear the comm industry will be in the doghouse for about a year. Launching a comm company in this, what is probably the worst year in the history of the telecommunications industry, I found Cisco's report particularly spooky. If Cisco can't turn a dime, that's a nasty indicator for the health of anyone in the comm market. Regards, Amy J