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Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: andreas_wonisch who wrote (141657)	8/15/2001 9:14:00 AM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 186894

Taiwan's VIA launches controversial chip By Michael Kramer TAIPEI, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Taiwan's VIA Technologies said on Wednesday it had started mass shipments of a chipset for use with Intel's (NasdaqNM:INTC - news) most powerful processor despite threats of legal action from the U.S. firm. VIA launched its P4X266 chipset, which allows Intel's top-of-the-line Pentium 4 processor to communicate with the rest of the computer system, though it does not have a licence from Intel, the world's largest semiconductor firm. ``We believe we have not infringed on any Intel patent,'' said Ted Lee, VIA's vice president in charge of sales and marketing. ``We are talking to them about a licence purely because of business concerns.'' ``Licensing just means the product is easier to sell. You have one less question to answer from customers,'' he told a news conference. ``Intel has not taken any legal action against us as of today.'' VIA has run into legal trouble with a similar product. It made a low-cost chipset for Intel's previous generation of microprocessor, the Pentium 3, and stole around 20 percent of world chipset market share to reach around 40 percent, analysts say. The Taiwan firm was hit with patent infringement litigation from Intel, which was settled out of court last year. The two firms declined to disclose the terms of the settlement. ``They haven't got our licence yet, that's the first point,'' said Georgine Lin, Intel's public relations manager in Taiwan. ``We are not able to speculate on our possible legal actions at this point,'' she told Reuters. PRICE NOW IMPORTANT The P4X266 could be another coup against the U.S. semiconductor giant. It supports double data rate memory chips, which are much cheaper than the high-performance but pricy Rambus (NasdaqNM:RMBS - news) memory that came with Intel's first Pentium 4 processors. Intel has since announced it would put out another chipset supporting more mainstream memory chips, eliminating the Rambus chips that had hiked the price tag of computers running the Pentium 4. However, VIA says the P4X266 is still 25 percent cheaper than Intel's new, lower-priced offering -- an important edge as consumers watch their spending amid the current global economic downturn. Indeed, many semiconductor firms hope consumers will be tempted by the now cut-rate Pentium 4 and upgrade to new personal computers, creating new demand to lift the microchip industry out of one of its worst-ever downturns. Just as important is the battle for the hearts and minds of Taiwan's motherboard firms, which make more than 60 percent of the world's motherboards for PCs and incorporate chipsets into their designs. Semiconductor industry newsletters have said Taiwan's top board makers have refused to use the P4X266 for fear they would also become the target of legal action from Intel. ``We have communicated with our customers in terms of the legal situation and we will indemnify them against any costs that should be incurred should Intel decide to go along that route,'' said Richard Brown, VIA's marketing director. VIA's product launch was announced after close of trade on Wednesday. VIA shares gained T$5.00, or 2.4 percent, to T$213 while the benchmark TAIEX (^TWII - news) share index gained 0.73 percent. Intel has licensed two other Taiwan chipset designers, Silicon Integrated Systems and Acer Laboratories , to make Pentium 4 chipsets.