Taiwan’s major system chipset makers – VIA Technologies, Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) and ULi Electronics – are all positive about the second quarter, as Intel’s aggressive move to phase out its 845 platform and price cuts for Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) K8 CPU should stimulate demand, the companies stated.

Intel’s more aggressive migration to the 915 platform starting this quarter should benefit the three chipset vendors, as they can pick up additional business in the entry-level market, the companies indicated. In addition, price cuts for AMD K8 processors has resulted in increased demand for the platform, which a key market segment for the three Taiwan vendors.

In April, Chipset shipments from VIA grew about 4% sequentially, with the K8 platform accounting for about 70% of its total shipments, the company said. Despite seasonality affecting second quarter results, the vendor anticipates its sales in the second quarter will remain flat on the first quarter, when VIA recorded NT$3.9 billion in revenues and NT$63 million in pretax profits.

This month, VIA intends to begin volume producing its new PCI Express (PCIe) chipsets for the Intel Pentium 4 platform, according to the company. The lineup includes the PT880 Pro and PT894 chipsets for the mainstream segment and the PT894 Pro for the workstation and power-user segments. In addition, VIA will introduce its new integrated chipsets, the PM890 and P4M800 Pro, around the same time, said the company.

SiS reported that its April revenues were up 19% from last year, on rising demand for its SiS661 chipset that has led to short supply for the Pentium 4-supporting chipset. The maker already placed urgent orders with United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) in order to fulfill demand this quarter, the company noted.

Alex Kuo, president of ULi, stated that ULi enjoyed sequential shipment growth approaching 30% in April. As first-tier motherboard makers are raising the proportion of K8-enabled PCs, demand for ULi’s M1689 single-chip solution will remain high through this quarter, according to Kuo. In the latter half of this quarter, ULi is also scheduled to volume ship its first PCIe-enabled northbridge chip, the M1695, which will also support the K8 platform, said Kuo.

In addition, demand for ULi’s PCIe-enabled M1573 southbridge, which is currently used with ATI Technologies’ Radeon Xpress 200 series PCIe northbridge, continues to heat up, especially in the distribution channel, according to the Chinese-language Commercial Times today.

By: DocMemory
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