A new chipset launched at Computex Taipei 2001 yesterday by Nvidia Corp, a US-based firm, will bring desperately needed orders for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), but for Taiwan's VIA Technologies Inc (威盛電子), the new chipset means tough competition ahead.
Nvidia, a top maker of graphics chips, launched its latest product yesterday, the nForce line of graphics chipsets.
Chipsets regulate the flow of data between the main organs of a computer, like the microprocessor and memory chips.
The new nForce graphics chipset, however, adds high quality imagery and Dolby digital sound to the equation.
Based on the graphics chip design used in Microsoft's new Xbox game machine, Nvidia's new chipset makes possible Jurassic Park-quality graphics on a desktop computer, promising superior photo, 3-D, video and other images at a lower price.
With the graphics chip functionality placed right on the chipset, computer makers should be able to save hundreds of dollars per computer on graphics cards, sound cards and other components now rendered unnecessary by nForce.
The company also tapped Taiwan's leading semiconductor foundry, TSMC, to manufacture the chipsets.
According to Tony Tamasi, director of desktop product management at Nvidia, TSMC will begin mass production of the chips in July or August using a 0.15 micron technology etching process. TSMC will also reportedly make the Nvidia graphics chips slated to fill Microsoft's Xbox.
Although the new graphics chipset means new orders for TSMC, the high-powered product is expected to compete with VIA Technologies. The company just released its own graphics chipset, the VIA Apollo KLE133, for use with Advanced Micro Device's (AMD) Duron processors on value PCs.
The new Nvidia chipset, developed through the use of AMD technology, will give the VIA chipset a run for its money.
"We'd like to see [the nForce] in our full range of products," said Rex Meek, director of applications and technical support at AMD.
The nForce chipsets only work with AMD's Athlon and Duron chip families.
Nvidia needed AMD technology to complete the puzzle of putting its graphics expertise on a chipset, and now Intel will have to wait for the graphics chipset to be made Intel-friendly.
This news is especially hard hitting since AMD is VIA's number one customer. VIA currently produces between 70 percent and 85 percent of AMD's chipsets, according to Chris Hsieh, semiconductor analyst at ING Barings in Taipei.
"AMD is a huge source of revenue" for VIA, said Hsieh. He estimated that the firm accounts for nearly 70 percent of VIA's revenue.
Newspaper reports in Taiwan indicate VIA is looking into possible legal action over the issue. Some of the chipset technology AMD transferred to Nvidia reportedly came to AMD through VIA. VIA reportedly plans to sue Nvidia for using the technology without authorization.
"We haven't been contacted by VIA ... we are not aware of any infringements," said Nvidia's Tamasi.
Although some argue Nvidia did not have the technology to meld graphics chips to chipsets in such a short time-frame, analysts said VIA would not likely sue the firm for fear of angering AMD.
"The possibility of VIA suing Nvidia is probably very remote," said Hsieh.
The Philippines is working behind the scenes to enhance its defensive cooperation with Taiwan, the Washington Post said in a report published on Monday. “It would be hiding from the obvious to say that Taiwan’s security will not affect us,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro Jr told the paper in an interview on Thursday last week. Although there has been no formal change to the Philippines’ diplomatic stance on recognizing Taiwan, Manila is increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, the report said. The number of Chinese vessels in the seas around the Philippines, as well as Chinese
‘A SERIOUS THREAT’: Japan has expressed grave concern over the Strait’s security over the years, which demonstrated Tokyo’s firm support for peace in the area, an official said China’s military drills around Taiwan are “incompatible” with peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya said during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi (王毅) on Thursday. “Peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is important for the international community, including Japan,” Iwaya told Wang during a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN-related Foreign Ministers’ Meetings in Kuala Lumpur. “China’s large-scale military drills around Taiwan are incompatible with this,” a statement released by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday cited Iwaya as saying. The Foreign Ministers’ Meetings are a series of diplomatic
URBAN COMBAT: FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired missiles from the US made a rare public appearance during early-morning drills simulating an invasion of the Taipei MRT The ongoing Han Kuang military exercises entered their sixth day yesterday, simulating repelling enemy landings in Penghu County, setting up fortifications in Tainan, laying mines in waters in Kaohsiung and conducting urban combat drills in Taipei. At 5am in Penghu — part of the exercise’s first combat zone — participating units responded to a simulated rapid enemy landing on beaches, combining infantry as well as armored personnel. First Combat Zone Commander Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源) led the combined armed troops utilizing a variety of weapons systems. Wang Keng-sheng (王鏗勝), the commander in charge of the Penghu Defense Command’s mechanized battalion, said he would give
‘REALISTIC’ APPROACH: The ministry said all the exercises were scenario-based and unscripted to better prepare personnel for real threats and unexpected developments The army’s 21st Artillery Command conducted a short-range air defense drill in Taoyuan yesterday as part of the Han Kuang exercises, using the indigenous Sky Sword II (陸射劍二) missile system for the first time in the exercises. The armed forces have been conducting a series of live-fire and defense drills across multiple regions, simulating responses to a full-scale assault by Chinese forces, the Ministry of National Defense said. The Sky Sword II missile system was rapidly deployed and combat-ready within 15 minutes to defend Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in a simulated attack, the ministry said. A three-person crew completed setup and
RSS