X-bit labs

Chipset Designers Flee from Via Technologies.

Category: Chipsets

by Anton Shilov

[ 09/07/2007 | 07:27 AM ]

Via Technologies, a struggling designer of chipsets and developer of central processing units (CPUs), has reportedly lost an executive who was in charge of the company’s chipset business along with a group of core-logic developers. The resignation of an exec spurred further rumours regarding the chipset business of Via.

Chewei Lin, vice president and general manager of Via’s platform business, according to a news-story at DigiTimes web-site, will resign from his post and take around 40 engineers from Via’ chipset research team to join integrated circuit designer ASMedia Technology, a subsidiary of Asustek Computer.

According to Via’s web-site, the company currently employs about 2000 of people, 70% of which, or 1400, are engineers, several hundreds of which (about 600, according to claims made by an S3 Graphics executive two years ago). While 40 chipset designers may not be a significant number for Via, considering that the company still has to sign a cross-license agreement with Intel Corp. to develop and sell chipsets for Intel’s chips in 2008, the future of Via’s chipset business looks gloomy.

Earlier this year it was reported that Via plans to switch its focus from third party chipsets to chipsets for its own C7 processor platform in order to lead the way for its own microprocessors to such markets as multimedia control, commercial embedded (thin clients, industrial PCs and point of sale terminals), home multimedia and mobile embedded (ultra-mobile devices, set-top boxes, LCD TVs and car electronics).

Via is reported to have stated that it had not heard of any group resignation, but it was normal for employees to leave after a reorganization.