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SiS and VIA to benefit from strong socket-478 motherboard demand in channel market


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Charles Chou, Taipei; Jessie Shen, DigiTimes.com [Monday 26 December 2005]

Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) and VIA Technologies, two major chipset specialists in Taiwan, anticipate that strong sales of Socket-478 motherboards from the channel segment in emerging markets will be driving shipment growth throughout the first quarter of 2006.

Socket-478 Pentium 4 motherboards currently contribute more than 40% of total Intel motherboard shipments in emerging markets, including India and South America, though the LGA-775 series actually dominates the OEM market, the chipset makers indicated. The adoption of LGA-775 motherboards should start penetrating noticeably in the channel segment by the second quarter of next year, the makers expect.

SiS has begun sampling of its SiS662, its next-generation PCI Express (PCIe) integrated chipset, with mass shipments slated for the first quarter of next year, the company noted. Mass production of VIA’s PCIe P4M890 chipset will soon kick off, the company said, adding that it will also release its PT900 series.

Several motherboard makers recently placed more entry-level chipset orders with SiS and VIA for new Socket-478 motherboards with DDR2 memory, industry sources indicated. Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) has launched a Socket 478 Pentium 4 motherboard based on VIA’s P4M800 PRO integrated chipset, which features AGP8X and DDR400/DDR2 533 memory, the sources cited.