by Anton Shilov
01/06/2004 | 09:23 AM
We at X-bit labs recently had a great opportunity to conduct an interview with Ben Boyden from VIA. The company is preparing quite a lot of new and exciting developments to see the light of the day next year, so, if you are interested, we have got a read for you about DDR-II, PCI Express and other 2004 introductions today.
<%BANNER[article]%>X-bit labs: Hello, Ben. Please introduce yourself to X-bit labs readers and describe your role at VIA Technologies.
Ben Boyden: My name is Ben Boyden, and I am the marketing manager for the VIA Chipsets platform.
X-bit labs: VIA used to be the number one chipset company with over 50% of market share. As a result of your legal dispute with Intel, your positions are now much weaker than before; though, there are positive changes, one of the them is the settlement with Intel that could potentially improve your business in the Intel-compatible chipset market. Can you list the positive quantitative and qualitative changes in your chipset business after the Spring settlement?
Ben Boyden: It is no secret that prior to the legal issue being settled with Intel, for their own reasons a number of mainboard vendors chose not to use VIA chipsets for their Pentium 4 solutions. Since the legal issues were settled and a 10 year cross-license between VIA and Intel was signed, we have seen a complete about turn and now all the leading mainboard manufacturers are producing solutions based around our Pentium 4 compatible chipsets. It goes without saying that this has had a positive impact on our business on the Intel processor platform, both in terms of end-user perception and revenues.
X-bit labs: Would you summarize your market share in Intel CPUs-supporting market now?
Ben Boyden: Currently we are the No.3 vendor for the Intel processor platform, but we are gaining market share constantly and expect to be the No.2 vendor on the Intel processor platform before 2H 2004.
X-bit labs: Would you elaborate on Intel chipset market share in percentage points?
Ben Boyden: Unfortunately we are unable to provide this information.
X-bit labs: Your positions in AMD market have been much stronger compared to Intel arena in the past 18 months. But you are also under heavy attack from NVIDIA. Quite some enthusiasts have been looking in NVIDIA’s nForce2 direction, but the nForce3 is not that successful at this point. Do you see a lot of positive opportunities for you in AMD64 arena?
Ben Boyden: Yes, since the first AMD Athlon processor was released way back in 1999, VIA has always been the No.1 chipset vendor on the AMD processor platform. NVIDIA has had some success with the nForce2, particularly among the enthusiast segment, but for the past few months the VIA KT600 has been reclaiming market share back from the nForce2. A major factor in the success of the KT600 has been its pairing with the feature packed VT8237 South Bridge, which boasts native Serial ATA-150 and V-RAID.
Of course yes, VIA have very strong hopes for the AMD64 processor platform. Although the 64-bit applications are not really there at the moment, the Athlon 64 processor offers superb performance in 32-bit applications and allows the headroom to move to 64-bit as and when that need is there. At the same time, the Opteron is proving a very worthy option for the server and workstation markets and is really gaining momentum.
X-bit labs: Do you think you can also talk about market shares in the Athlon XP and Athlon 64 markets?
Ben Boyden: Currently VIA has approximately 70-80% of the chipset market for AMD Athlon XP processors, and has already established a strong leadership position in the AMD64 processor platform, currently commanding about 90% of the market for chipsets.
X-bit labs: What is your strategy to increase your presence in both AMD and Intel markets?
Ben Boyden: We will continue to deliver chipsets that offer the right balance of performance, stability and features.
Aiming to differentiate chipsets through raw performance only is no longer a feasible strategy, especially when you consider the competing chipsets for the Pentium 4 processor now offer very similar real world performance levels. In addition to good performance, the best all round chipset package should offer customers the latest integrated I/O and storage technologies, and stability through a unified driver base.
For example, our VT8237 South Bridge brought integrated Serial ATA-150 and V-RAID to the market and supports 6-channel and 8-channel VIA Vinyl Audio configurations. By offering such a complete package it has become an immensely popular option with mainboard vendors, OEMs, and SIs alike. Our next generation South Bridge will build on this feature set and will feature up to 4 Serial ATA devices with AHCI command queue support.
At the same time our unique VIA Modular Architecture Platform (V-MAP) allows pin-to-pin compatibility between various VIA chipsets, meaning mainboard customers can effectively cover multiple market segments with only one design, and a unified driver base with VIA’s Hyperion 4-in-1 drivers. In the increasingly competitive world of today’s mainboard business, these are critical advantages to our customers.
X-bit labs: According to some industry sources we got that you are selling some of your chipsets at very low price. It surely affects margins and revenues, in case it is true. Can elaborate on this matter? Do those products still bring you some profit?
Ben Boyden: I am not sure how accurate your sources are and what the prices you refer to are. What I would say though is that the chipset business is an increasingly competitive arena, especially in light of some newer players coming in recently. In any such arena it is inevitable there will be aggressive competition on pricing. Furthermore, we offer a comprehensive range of chipsets to cover all price points and segments, so at the lower end you can expect pricing to be particularly aggressive.
X-bit labs: Is chipset business actually profitable for VIA, keeping in mind competition and some other factors?
Ben Boyden: Yes, the chipset business is a profitable one for VIA, otherwise we would not be in it! We operate an efficient and streamlined fabless business model, which ensures sustainable profits even when competition is particularly intense.
X-bit labs: Can you elaborate on markets you are penetrating aggressively these days?
Ben Boyden: For some time now VIA has been more than just a chipsets provider, having branched out to a number of other areas. Two of the markets we have big hopes for in 2004 are audio and networking.
On the VIA Audio platform, we will continue to push forward with our line of VIA Vinyl Envy Line of Audio controllers. Already we have seen the widespread adoption of VIA Vinyl Audio solutions in the soundcard market, and in 2004 we will be making a bigger push with audio solutions for media-centre PCs, and some exciting new notebook audio solutions.
VIA is also working hard to promote our Gigabit Ethernet solutions. 2004 will be an exciting year for Ethernet as the market is expected to make a quick transition from 10/100 to Gigabit as a standard feature on desktops. VIA's Velocity line of Gigabit Ethernet Controllers offers high data transfer performance, low CPU utilization, and leading-edge PHY technology that incorporates a powerful noise cancelling DSP to ensure full-speed connections over longer cable distances in any home or office network.
X-bit labs: Can you tell our readers the ratio between Intel and AMD chipsets at VIA? In the past, present and future?
Ben Boyden: Sorry, I do not have that kind of information. What is important to us is that we continue to offer the industry’s most comprehensive portfolio of chipsets for both Intel and AMD processor platforms. The rest is up to our customers and the end-users, of course.
X-bit labs: You have contracts with some big PC makers, such as Dell. Can you note your other clients among the tier-one and tier-two OEMs? Do they ship VIA products for home or business clients?
Ben Boyden: It is our policy not to comment on specific customer relationships, but I would say that at this time just about every major OEM ships products featuring VIA chipsets. The fact that we offer such a wide portfolio of chipsets, including discrete and IGP chipsets for both AMD and Intel processor platforms means that our customers are able to cover all home and business user segments.
X-bit labs: VIA has closed down the VPSD group. Was this initiative actually a success, or not?
Ben Boyden: In fact VPSD was never closed down. It was recently renamed as the VIA Embedded Platform Division (VEPD), to reflect its successful evolution into a business predominantly focused on the embedded market. VEPD continue to provide various versions of the very popular Mini-ITX mainboard, which you can read about at http://www.viaembedded.com.
X-bit labs: Any projections about the PC market growth next year?
Ben Boyden: Most informed sources seem to be in agreement that 2004 will see significant growth for the PC market, and may even be a record year in terms of PCs shipped. Given that we have just seen the busiest Christmas season for the PC industry in many years, it certainly appears things are moving that way, and in addition to strong consumer demand, it also appears the corporate market is finally emerging from its long slump.
X-bit labs: Are you fully ready to ship LGA775-supporting CPUs? Did you get all the licenses, etc?
Ben Boyden: Yes, we will support all flavours of the forthcoming Prescott processor. Our PT880 chipset, which has been shipping for a few months now, is fully ready to support the Prescott processor.
X-bit labs: Can you note brief features of your next-generation products for Intel and AMD, please?
Ben Boyden: Well, it is very difficult to talk briefly about all the chipsets we will be debuting over the next few months, as the first half of 2004 is going to be a very busy time for VIA on the chipset front, so I will just concentrate on the solutions I expect to be of most interest to your readers.
On the Intel processor platform, our first chipset to support PCI Express and DDR-II is the PT890, which is slated for launch by Q1 2004. Like the existing PT880 chipset, the PT890 will feature an asynchronous clock, allowing users to squeeze every last bit of performance out of the forthcoming Intel Prescott processors.
Meanwhile, on the AMD processor platform, in Q1 2004 we will introduce the K8T800 Pro chipset for the new 939-pin AMD Athlon 64, which will build on the very successful architecture implemented for the K8T800, with the addition of a 1GHz HyperTransport bus between processor and chipset and a new asynchronous bus design. Around the same timeframe we will also introduce the KT880, a dual-channel DDR supporting chipset for the AMD Athlon XP platform. Later on we will debut the K8T890, which we expect to be the first available PCI-Express solution for the AMD processor platform.
X-bit labs: How long do you plan to support AMD Athlon XP platform? Are there any new products apart from KT880 expected?
Ben Boyden: We will support the Athlon XP platform as long as there is a demand for it and AMD are willing to supply processors to meet that demand. It is likely that the Athlon XP platform will continue throughout 2004 and maybe even into 2005. The fact that very soon we will launch a dual-channel DDR chipset, the KT880, for the Athlon XP processor, shows our ongoing commitment to the platform. We will also be introducing the KM400A and KN400A IGP chipsets for desktop and mobile designs, as well, very shortly.
X-bit labs: Do you expect any PCI Express-supporting chipset products for the Socket A?
Ben Boyden: We are developing South Bridge solutions that will enable Socket A processor based mainboards to support PCI Express I/O expansion, but currently we do not have any plans to produce Socket A North Bridges with support for PCI Express graphics.
X-bit labs: Do you plan to obtain a license for Pentium M bus as well?
Ben Boyden: In fact the Pentium M also uses the GTL bus, i.e. the same as the Pentium 4. Regardless, the cross-licensing agreement we have with Intel already covers this. We will be announcing some exciting new chipsets for the Intel processor based notebook market in early 2004, so stay posted.
X-bit labs: Can you tell us something about your DeltaChrome plans or products?
Ben Boyden: S3 Graphics actually started shipping the DeltaChrome graphics processor in December, so you can expect new cards from vendors such as Club 3D anytime soon.
The DeltaChrome graphics processor features full DirectX 9+ compatibility, eight pixel shader and four vertex shader pipelines, and features a number of what we call “beyond gaming” features. These include native support for HDTV and the programmable Chromotion video engine. The total package makes DeltaChrome the only mid-range graphics processor to deliver a true “High-Def” viewing experience.
Throughout 2004 S3 Graphics will be introducing a series of graphics processors based on the DeltaChrome core for the desktop and notebook PC markets. 2004 will also see the launch of DeltaChrome IGP chipsets with support for DX9, from 2H ’04 onwards. As you are probably aware, support for DirectX 9 in IGP chipsets will soon become essential, especially with the arrival of Microsoft’s Longhorn OS.
X-bit labs: Is your subsidiary S3 Graphics ready for transition to PCI Express x16? Any PEG x16 GPUs are now sampling?
Ben Boyden: S3 Graphics is currently developing PCI Express graphics solutions, the first of which we anticipate being available in 2H 2004.
X-bit labs: What has happened to QBM? There are no chipsets to support this type of memory and there are no memory modules to use QBM technology.
Ben Boyden: As the technology was not quite ready, we decided to remove QBM support from the first version of the PT880 chipset, in order not to delay the launch of the chipset. However, our engineers are still working with the technology and we do not rule out delivering this technology in future chipsets.
X-bit labs: Are there any issues with QBM support implementation, e.g. stability or cost related?
Ben Boyden: This is something I am not fully aware of. I know the technology works, but I have no information on performance or cost.
X-bit labs: Do you have any plans to support memory technologies developed by Rambus? Maybe RDRAM or XDR DRAM?
Ben Boyden: No, at this time we have no plans to support Rambus memory.
X-bit labs: Do you expect DDR-II to be big in 2004? I mean, can you estimate the share of your Pentium 4 chipsets with DDR-II support next year?
Ben Boyden: Without doubt, yes DDR-II will be the next key memory transition, but exactly how much market share it will command before the end of 2004 is hard to say. Undoubtedly there will be a transition period between DDR and DDR II, so we have planned with this in mind and chipsets such as the forthcoming PT890 will support both DDR and DDR II, allowing our mainboard and OEM customers the flexibility to support one or the other standard with a single chipset.
X-bit labs: Does single-channel DDR-II make sense in certain market segments? Maybe not in 2004, but in 2005 or 2006?
Ben Boyden: Yes, single-channel DDR-II memory configurations make sense in certain market segments. Not everybody needs the performance boost of dual-channel memory, so the extra cost of running dual-channel memory is not acceptable for these users. Consider that the majority of new desktop PCs shipping today still run single-channel memory, even if the mainboard shipped can support dual-channel memory. Furthermore, I would expect that sometime in 2005 DDR-II memory will become cheaper than DDR, as this is where the majority of the manufacturing volume will be.
X-bit labs: Are there any important DRAM trends you want to outline?
Ben Boyden: From VIA’s perspective the most important thing to focus on is the arrival of DDR-II, so we are just concentrating on being ready for that.
X-bit labs: When do you project to start shipping core-logic products with PCI Express support, e.g. PEG x16? Do you comment on the share of such products among all VIA’s chipsets products in 2004?
Ben Boyden: As I mentioned earlier, we are planning to launch the PT890 chipset for the Pentium 4 processor platform in Q1 ’04, with the KT890 chipset for the AMD64 platform following shortly after.
At this early stage it is very difficult to make any comment on forecasted share of these products among all chipsets. This will be determined by a number of factors beyond our control, such as the uptake by mainboard makers and OEMs, and the availability of PCI Express graphics cards and other PCI Express peripherals such as Gigabit Ethernet cards. Most important for us is to be ready to meet that demand as and when it is there, which we expect to do.
X-bit labs: What do you think of Wi-Fi software capabilities brought by Intel in Grantsdale? Do you plan to implement something of this kind too?
Ben Boyden: Following the trend of all other I/O technologies it’s inevitable that one day full WLAN capabilities will be integrated at the core-logic level, but exactly when this will happen is hard to say. It remains to be seen exactly how much Wi-Fi software capabilities will benefit customers, as they will still require an additional wireless card. Currently we are reviewing our strategy for integration of WLAN capabilities, but we cannot offer any more details at this time.
X-bit labs: So, the most important chipset technologies we will see from you in 2004 will be PCI Express interconnections, dual-channel DDR and DDR-II memory, Azalia audio, more Serial ATA-150 ports, less expensive Gigabit Ethernet controllers, integrated graphics cores with DirectX 9.0 capabilities, 1GHz HT bus. Maybe anything else?
Ben Boyden: I think that covers all the key chipset related technologies for us at VIA over the coming year. If I think of anything else I’ll be sure to let you know.
X-bit labs: Thanks for you answers and a great interview, Ben!