Recent months were not really positive for Silicon Integrated Systems and VIA Technologies whose sales suffered from decreases. Unfortunately for both Taiwanese companies, their North-America-based rivals Intel Corporation and ATI Technologies are said to prepare a massive attack on the chipset front what is likely to increase competition on the core-logic market.

According to DigiTimes, ATI’s code-named RS300 chipset with integrated RADEON 9000/9200-class graphics core will be formally announced later this month or early next month with commercial availability in July or August. As we revealed some time ago the RS300 should be a very powerful solution for Intel Pentium 4 processors with up to 800MHz Quad Pumped Bus. The RS300 will compete with Intel’s own i865G, but will be priced at lower level. As a result, it will also compete with SiS’ and VIA’s higher-end products.

According to various market reports, Intel’s own i865P core-logic with dual-channel PC2700 memory and up to 533MHz Quad Pumped Bus is not a good seller. Currently Intel thinks about launching an i865-series product with 800MHz QPB, but without dual-channel memory support. Performance of such product even with PC3200 support will be a lot lower compared to i865PE and i875P solutions, nevertheless, it is very likely that various PC-vendors, OEMs and SIs will adopt it for low-cost personal computers because of low-price. According to preliminary information, Intel will launch the product branded as i865PL in August, though, this is fully unofficial information.

ATI Technologies’ RS300 may appear on the market earlier than VIA’s PT880 and that will be a big advantage for ATI’s solution. I do not know when SiS’ dual-channel chipset with 800MHz Quad Pumped Bus support is set to come, but the RS300 will still influence its sales. Both VIA and SiS have some time to sell their SiS648FX and VIA PT800 next month and in August before mainboard makers adopt Intel’s i865PL, as a result, companies may still enjoy good sales in July and August.

The situation on the chipset market will be very hot this year and at this point it looks like the Taiwanese chipset designers are under heavy attack, Intel is the biggest winner and ATI Technologies’ prospects look good enough since ASUS, MSI and Gigabyte Technology are said to adopt the RS300; a lot in ATI’s success or  failure still depends on Intel because if it starts to cut i865G price, ATI’s integrated chipset sales will decline.