VIA Technologies Inc kicked off its VIA Technology Forum 2000 yesterday by announcing the launch of two new chipsets enabling the adoption of double data rate DRAM for high-performance servers, workstations, and PC applications on both Intel and AMD processor based systems.
Double data rate dynamic random access memory utilizes existing DRAM infrastructure and technology to double the data rate of the 133MHz memory platform, known as PC133, by sending two units of data per clock cycle, rather than PC133's one unit. The result: twice the amount of information in the same amount of time.
"DDR provides the most appropriate memory solution for solving the system performance bottleneck while leveraging the cost benefits of the existing SDRAM infrastructure," said Wen Chi-chen, president and CEO of VIA, in a statement yesterday. VIA is the world's second largest computer chipset supplier after Intel Corp.
The launch of the VIA Apollo Pro266 and VIA Apollo KT266 chipsets gives VIA the advantage of being the first company in the market to offer DDR-supporting chipsets, securities analysts said. The new chipsets also further add to VIA's already diversified product-line. However, having announced it would develop DDR-supported chipsets back in April, the news had already been factored into the company's share price, analysts said. As a result, with all the good news now out of the way, the company may have difficulty sustaining a high share price, they said.
The new chipsets are expected to enter into mass production from the middle of October, said Frank Jeng, marketing manager at VIA. The main customers will be motherboard makers such as Micro-star International Co and Gigabyte Technology, he said. "We haven't received any orders yet as the chipset is going through pilot-runs," he said.
However, Micro-star has already begun making models incorporating the new chipset and will make orders from the end of October, said Iris Li, marketing specialist at Micro-star.
Micro-star selected the VIA chipset because it has a good relationship with the chipmaker, said Li. It also doesn't have much choice. "We will announce VIA products first because VIA is the first to have the DDR chipset ready," she said.
The tactic by VIA hasn't gone unnoticed by analysts. "The market has only one choice," said an analyst from a local securities company. "VIA has been very aggressive in launching this product because it's looking at DDR being the main product next year," she said.
And as the first company with the ability to mass-produce a DDR supporting chipset, VIA's product will now dominate the market, she said.
Acer Laboratories Inc had announced that it would launch DDR chipsets supporting Intel and AMD processors in the fourth quarter of the year. But it has a reputation for delaying product launches, analysts said. "The good thing with VIA is it can keep its promise," said Andrew Teng, semiconductors analyst at Taiwan International Securities Corp. "You can count on what they say."
And with DDR memory expected to dominate the market next year, VIA will be able to take full advantage of having the first chipset on the market that supports DDR, said Teng.
Meanwhile, as markets took a breather from their downward trajectory, VIA's share price fell 1.74 percent to NT$395.
The good news has already been factored into the share price, said the analyst from the local securities house.
Further, after strong earnings- per share growth this year, she expects much slower growth for the company next year due to slower growth in the chipset market.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS