The writing has been on the wall for Via's Intel chipsets for a long time - they basically signed the death warrant on them with the settlement with Intel back in 2003. On the AMD front, they're going to be coming under more and more pressure from ATI chipsets, so they're not going to be making an easy buck there. Not to mention that they were very much relegated to the low end for both areas, which didn't help the profit margins.

Overall, ditching AMD and Intel and sticking with what they do best (low power, highly integrated, systems) makes a whole lot of sense.

/agree with Cynic, VIA should focus on kicking AMD/Intel/Transmetta ass in the area it does best in. low power with good performance.

C7-M>Pentium M


But I do hope VIA does survive, gota love'em, one way or another.

When they are going to stop using such "bombastic" verbs like: "exodus", "flee". Its not interesting anymore.

I don't blame them eighther, I mean they haven't exactly been embraced by AMD. Back with the launch of the Athalon 64 Nvidia was chosen as the launch partner even though the Via chipset was faster than the crappy Nforce3. Of course lately Via hasen't been putting out steller performers and even in the lower ends I find their chipsets rather lacking.

VIA makes good x86 chips and chipsets for use with linux and small systems. They need to focus on keeping and extending their lead in that field.

VIA should integrate itself into Intel to kick some ass.