According to numerous reports from this web-site, VIA Technologies, the world’s second largest core-logic developer, has increased its orders at TSMC, who manufacturers the actual semiconductors for Taipei, Taiwan-based fabless company. VIA Technologies’ representatives confirmed the fact anonymously, though, did not revealed any official details in regards the quantities of wafers.

During the recent press-conferences, AMD again assured the industry and their partners that they will be able to supply a large portion of the Athlon XP processors with 333MHz system bus to the market, hence, the demand on higher-end Socket A mainboards can go up in November and December. Since NVIDIA’s nForce2 still has not made its appearance, personal computer vendors from all around the world now order the KT400 and KT333 based mainboards, boosting the demand on the mentioned chipsets. In fact, VIA’s partners already reported shortages of the Socket A supporting core-logic devices back in August and September. Even though there are still no rivals for VIA on AMD platforms market this time, the company wants to ensure that they will be able to fulfil all the orders they have. VIA presently estimates that its shipment ratio of Intel and AMD-based products will be 55:45 this quarter. The ratio was roughly 50:50 in the third quarter.

Unofficial sources claimed that VIA placed an extra order of 40 000 to 50 000 wafers last month to TSMC. The order would boost VIA’s production to 25 000 – 30 000 wafers per month in the fourth quarter, up 20-25% from 20 000 – 25 000 wafers per month in the previous quarter. As one million VIA core logic chipsets can be manufactured from 5 000 to 6 000 wafers, a 40 000-wafer order would generate 6.6 million to 8 million chipsets. It seems that VIA’s overall market share may also grow this quarter.