VIA Technologies will probably assume the lead in the chipset market for Advanced Micro Devices's (AMD) new FSB (front-side bus) 333MHz-based processors, with its current dominance in the AMD-platform sector and early volume production of the KT400 chipset, which supports the new bus.
However, the company noted that levels for continuing shipments of the KT400 remain dependent on motherboard clients' design schedules and the clear-out progress of its KT333 chipsets. So far, according to sources, most manufacturers appear to be opting to develop KT400 products directly, instead of updating the BIOS of KT333 boards.
Currently, besides the KT400, Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) and Nvidia both have supporting chipsets ready. However, board makers said that VIA may enjoy the best business opportunity, as it has already started mass-producing its products. The nForce 2 from Nvidia and the SiS746 from SiS will not enter volume production until the end of August and September, respectively.
Still, VIA is not completely without competition. Motherboard companies said that Nvidia, ambitious to cross into the core logic chipset market, has quoted aggressively for its nForce 2 chipset, with prices that are said to be close to the KT400's US$20-25.
Much to the market's surprise, AMD earlier revealed plans to upgrade its processor's FSB standard from 266MHz to 333MHz to allow DDR333 memory support. The company's first FSB 333MHz-based product, the Athlon XP 2700+, is set to be launched on October 7.
Motherboard companies believed that the new FSB 333MHz AMD boards are likely to become hit products in the clone market during the fourth quarter, especially as the processor maker's next-generation K8-core products will not appear on market shelves until later this year.

Source: DigiTimes

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