The company will still provide support for AMD's processors

Jan 4, 2008 11:27 GMT  ·  By

Chip manufacturer Via Technologies has announced that the company has merged its PC chipset division with the CPU development branch. The fusion is effective as of the fourth quarter of the last year. This move is intended to allow the company focus exclusively on their own-brand CPU platforms.

According to the Chinese newspaper Apply Daily, VIA will only provide chipsets for its internal processors. The chipset division will still provide support for all the AMD platform and for the older Intel products only, that are not subject to patent issues.

The chipset manufacturer's move is no surprise at all, as VIA's market share for the Intel products entered a steep slope. Moreover, the license issues and the death of the entire chipset category would not have let any reasonable alternative for the chipset producer.

"Due to client demand, the company has not completely given up on negotiating with Intel for a patent contract, however, even if the company does receive a license, the current competitiveness in the chipset market means that the company would be unlikely to see a great benefit to its performance. As a result the company is searching for other profitable markets, particularly in the CPU," reads the report.

Via has not been competitive for some time now in the chipset business, but its products had once been vital for AMD's survival. The good old days when Socket A ruled the market were dominated by Via's KT133 or KX133 chipsets, and the company kept spitting new chipsets with improved features; an important aid for the Athlon platform to stay on top at a time when Nvidia and ATI were "kids".

Those who claim that it was high time for Via to be "put to sleep" are cruel. The company has written an important piece of history and might have played a key role in the industry's development. However, Via will not die, it will just take another approach at the market. The chipset manufacturer has announced that it will develop its own communications and multimedia sectors, apart from its CPU business.