Intel Corp, the world's biggest maker of chips and chipsets, and rival Via Technologies Inc (
Financial terms weren't disclosed. The rivals signed a 10-year agreement to license each other's products and Intel agreed not to assert its patents on some microprocessors for three years, the companies said. Intel gave Taiwan-based Via a four-year license to design and sell chipsets compatible with Intel microprocessors. Intel will get some royalties.
The settlement opens a larger market for Via, though it also may force the company to raise prices on chipsets and microprocessors, said Kevin Krewell, an analyst at MicroDesign Resources who doesn't own shares of Via or Intel.
"It's a double-edge sword for Via," Krewell said. "Any money they're paying Intel for licensing will cut into their margins and may force them to raise their prices slightly."
An appeals court in February denied Santa Clara, California-based Intel a new trial in one suit against Via. Intel and Via were involved in as many as 11 suits over 27 patents in Texas, California, China, Hong Kong, the UK, Germany and Taiwan.
"This clears everything," Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said.
Via's sales in the first quarter this year fell by 22 percent to NT$5.7 billion (US$163.6 million) compared with the same period a year ago, based on monthly revenue reports from the company.
Via's profit in the third quarter last year, the most recent period in which the company posted earnings, tumbled to NT$44 million from NT$882 million in the year earlier period. Via's net income fell in each of the first three quarters last year.
Prices for chipsets, which work with processors in a computer to control graphics and memory, have plunged as demand for personal computers have ebbed.
Intel shares rose US$0.30 to US$17.35 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Via shares rose NT$2.30 to NT$36 in Taipei. The settlement was announced after the close of regular U.S. trading.
Intel first sued Via in September 2001, alleging infringement of patents in microprocessor and chipset products. Via countersued, saying Intel's microprocessors infringed three patents Via acquired through an acquisition of Centaur.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to