Gezien de fanatieke toepassing van S3 chips in de videokaarten van Number Nine was het al duidelijk dat die twee een redelijke close verhouding hadden. Nu wordt de tent dus helemaal overgekocht door S3. Number Nine maakte ooit een aantal heftige high-end kaarten, maar is met de opkomst van de 3D accelerators vrij snel afgestorven tot een anonieme OEM supplier:
In a move to strengthen the competitive position of its Multimedia Division, S3® Incorporated (Nasdaq:SIII - news) announced today that it has begun the process to acquire substantially all of the assets of Number Nine Visual Technology Corporation.The acquisition of Number Nine, a contract supplier of S3-based products to IBM, will allow S3 to consolidate its graphics business with IBM into a single source distribution model, while also adding highly skilled hardware and software engineering resources to S3's existing teams.
``Over the past year, we have been working with IBM to build a long-term business relationship based on a supplier agreement with Number Nine,'' said Ken Potashner, chief executive officer for S3 Incorporated. ``We expect that our acquisition of Number Nine's assets will enable us to streamline this business model and further strengthen our direct relationship with IBM.''
