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.
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said second-quarter revenue is expected to surpass the first quarter, which rose 30 percent year-on-year to NT$118.92 billion (US$3.71 billion). Revenue this quarter is likely to grow, as US clients have front-loaded orders ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on Taiwanese goods, Delta chairman Ping Cheng (鄭平) said at an earnings conference in Taipei, referring to the 90-day pause in tariff implementation Trump announced on April 9. While situations in the third and fourth quarters remain unclear, “We will not halt our long-term deployments and do not plan to
TikTok abounds with viral videos accusing prestigious brands of secretly manufacturing luxury goods in China so they can be sold at cut prices. However, while these “revelations” are spurious, behind them lurks a well-oiled machine for selling counterfeit goods that is making the most of the confusion surrounding trade tariffs. Chinese content creators who portray themselves as workers or subcontractors in the luxury goods business claim that Beijing has lifted confidentiality clauses on local subcontractors as a way to respond to the huge hike in customs duties imposed on China by US President Donald Trump. They say this Chinese decision, of which Agence
RSS