...to manufacture chipsets for Pentium 4! That was the statement delivered by some Intel official, as ZDNet puts it.
We are in the know that Intel is not rushing to license VIA for manufacturing such chipsets. Nevertheless, there was a dim hope that VIA had got some of Intel’s licenses as it purchased S3 and that these licenses would enable it to create its first PX266 chipset without waiting for Intel’s blessing. But as the above mentioned official claimed, the purchase of S3 included no licenses dealing with P4 chipsets. Thus, the hope was shattered.
Another conjection is that VIA has acquired some rights for releasing P4 chipsets while buying Cyrix, but this variant sounds still less plausible than the previous one, since the company was bought long ago, so, if there had been any licenses involved, VIA would have surely announced it. Well, today there is not much to talk about: currently VIA keeps on negotiating with Intel about granting it a license. Will it finally succeed? Of course, it will. Perhaps, by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, as VIA is looking forward to grasping the license, two other parties - Ali and SiS - are already happy to have it. In fact, it hardly makes any change, for the traditionally slow couple is highly unlikely to make use of their rights in the nearest future.