Forbes bericht over geruchten dat S3 mogelijk z'n graphics devisie laat overnemen door VIA Technologies. S3 zou zich meer willen toeleggen op de winstgevende communicatie en entertainment divisies:
Sources familiar with S3 said the company is in talks with another chipmaker. One of the names mentioned is VIA Technologies, the Taiwanese chipset maker that bought microprocessor makers Cyrix and Centaur earlier this year. Silicon Valley sources said that another Asian board and peripheral maker might be looking closely at S3's graphics assets. Both VIA and S3 declined to comment.Rumors suggest that S3 might hive off its graphics chip business and focus on high growth markets such as digital communications and digital entertainment--two high-growth markets.
In S3's digital future, graphic chips are likely to become less important and it makes good sense for the company to divest these low-yielding assets. VIA could be an ideal buyer for S3's graphics assets. S3 and VIA announced a joint venture in November, tentatively dubbed S3-VIA. Together, they aim to develop highly integrated chips, which will combine graphics and core logic chipset functions and target the high-volume budget PC and notebook PC market.
VIA, at the time of announcement, had a $14 million investment in S3 and was going to invest another $11 million in the graphics chipmaker. S3 was also going to invest $25 million in VIA by December-end. A $25 million investment by VIA represents nearly 3.5% of S3's total equity.
