VIA Technologies Inc (
VIA plans to offer Pentium 4 chipsets at about the same time its two smaller rivals in Taiwan, Silicon Integrated Systems Corp (
The chipsets from the three Taiwanese companies will differ from those of Intel, the largest chipmaker, by enabling the Pentium 4 to work with DDR memory chips that are cheaper than those currently available for the Intel chip, which are made by Rambus, the story said.
Chipsets manage the flow of data between a processor such as the Pentium 4 and other parts of a computer such as memory chips and the display.
VIA announced yesterday that sales last month fell a fifth from March as demand for chipsets ebbed in the traditionally slow second quarter of the year.
The company's April sales were NT$3.22 billion (US$98 million), a third more than the same month last year. VIA shares rose as much as NT$7.0, or 2.3 percent, to NT$317.
"There's a seasonal 10 percent to 20 percent drop in sales, which has been reflected in the results of most of the motherboard companies this month," said Manuela Mercandelli, a manager for investor relations with VIA. "We consider this in line with predictions." VIA said earnings in the first quarter more than doubled on the back of a growing market for chipsets, especially in the European market.
Meanwhile, VIA has decided to again delay a decision on hiring a bank to manage a share sale until a June shareholder's meeting.
The company originally planned to appoint a bank to manage a share sale, worth between US$300 million and US$500 million by the end of April, to fund the acquisition of a US based chip design company.
"This issue is on the agenda for the shareholder's meeting in June," said Mercandelli. "We don't expect anything to move forward until that time." VIA plans to acquire an as yet unidentified US designer of communication chips to enhance the competitiveness of its computer chips. The company plans to add wireless communication capabilities to its PC chips.
VIA plans to sell the shares overseas in the third quarter.
The chip designer originally said in March that a bank would be appointed in that month to underwrite the sale.
The company now has a "very short list" of banks it's considering to underwrite the share sale, said Mercandelli.
Credit Suisse First Boston, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Merrill Lynch & Co, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co, Salomon Smith Barney Inc and UBS Warburg, are among banks seeking to underwrite the offering.
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