Na ATi en SiS heeft nu ook ALi toestemming van Intel gekregen om Pentium 4 chipsets op de markt te zetten. Het bedrijf zal (niet echt onverwacht) zorgen voor een lower-end / consumer chipset, hoogstwaarschijnlijk met DDR SDRAM ondersteuning. Op zijn vroegst zal deze in de tweede helft van dit jaar klaar zijn, waarmee het bedrijf in ieder geval een heel stuk sneller is dan concurrent SiS. Hieronder een aantal quotes uit het persbericht (dank aan Ace's Hardware voor de vertaling):
SAN JOSE, Calif., February 16, 2001 - Acer Laboratories Inc. (ALi), the world's leading integrated circuit solutions provider, today announced it has signed a Pentium® 4 processor chipset licensing agreement with Intel Corporation. ALi’s Pentium 4 processor chipset license is built upon a continuation of its existing Pentium® II processor and Pentium® III processor chipset licenses. The license agreement grants ALi legal rights to design, manufacture, and promote chipset products supporting Pentium 4 processors for high performance desktop computers.
"Given its unrivaled performance and functionality for the end user, Intel’s Pentium® 4 processor will have a positive impact in the global PC industry,” said Dr. Chin Wu, President of ALi. “Today’s announcement emphasizes ALi’s commitment to provide our customers with cutting-edge technology.”
ALi plans to support the Willamette (Pentium IV) platform once it spreads to the consumer level, which means sometime during the second half of next year at the earliest. Is this wild or what? ALi will develop a Willamette chipset, and according to Mr. Wu, they believe they will have a Willamette license by that time.
ALi is looking to produce P6 chipsets supporting DDR SDRAM, but they will initially only support it on the Athlon platform (Aladdin K7). ALi has a license for Rambus Direct DRAM, but DDR SDRAM is a higher priority at the moment.