Via Denies Intel's Allegations

Electronic News, August 27, 2001

ONE WEEK AFTER LAUNCHING A CHIPSET FOR THE PENTIUM 4 processor, Via Technologies Inc. of Taipei, Taiwan, issued a caustic press release last Thursday accusing Intel Corp. of using scare tactics against potential Via chipset customers and allegedly misinforming people that the Taiwanese chipset maker does not have a license for the processor. "Intel has made repeated claims both in the media and in discussions with customers that we are not licensed to sell products that are compatible with the Intel Pentium 4," Richard Brown, director of marketing for Via, stated in a release. "We disagree with these and other scare tactics that Intel is employing in the PC industry for marketing purposes. Intel should deal with the facts openly and communicate through official press releases rather than threatening customers and sowing seeds of doubt in the marketplace."

A spokesman for Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel (nasdaq: INTC) said that there is no claim of infringement and the company does not comment on potential legal actions related to its intellectual property. He also said the company has been fielding questions from the media and from customers and basically reiterating that Via does not have a license for the P4. However, ATI Technologies Inc., Acer Laboratories Inc. and Silicon Integrated Systems Corp. do have licenses, the spokesman said. "That's all we've said to the media and to customers," the spokesman said.

Via countered that it does have a license through its subsidiary, S3 Inc., the former graphics chip company that Via now partially owns, and that its Apollo P4X266 chipset does not infringe on Intel's patent. The company is continuing with the distribution of the chipset, despite claims from Intel that it acquired no license to do so. The chipset is reportedly the first on the market that allows the P4 to interface with double data rate SDRAM memory.

The three other Taiwanese core logic chipset makers have been granted licenses for the P4, according to Intel. Intel previously told Electronic News that Via had not been issued a license for the chipset.