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No more Kyro cards...just leaves ATI and NVIDIA

NFS4

NFS4

No Lifer
Just got the email from the folks at Virtual Zone:

http://www.vr-zone.com/#2103


<< STMicroelectronics will pull out of the competitive PC graphics accelerator chip market and is now seeking a buyer for the related assets of the business. The European chip maker said PC graphics ICs accounted for just $15 million of its $6.36 billion revenues in 2001.

STMicroelectronics said the potential sale of the graphics business was in line with its strategy to focus more attention on core areas in communications, automotive electronics, smart cards, computer peripherals, and digital consumer products.

With STMicro withdrawal, apparently there are left only NVIDIA and ATi competing in the PC graphics market. We shall see who will be interested in acquiring the business from STMicro and make use of the nice Tile Based Rendering technology. >>





http://www.siliconstrategies.com/story/OEG20020208S0016
 
if either nvidia or ati buys the tech, either one will have the edge... maybe matrox will buy it..

i knew they were going to pull out.. the market isn't that great after the first two top players..
 


<< if either nvidia or ati buys the tech, either one will have the edge... maybe matrox will buy it..

i knew they were going to pull out.. the market isn't that great after the first two top players.. >>


I bet NVIDIA buys them...I'd like to see how high there stock price would go then😉
 
Well, they wouldnt actually buy any of the patents. They would just buy the rights to use series 4 and 5. Course NV would be more interested in any of the talent that would come with it, but the real brains behind the technology is PowerVR in England, and them along with any patents would not be included in the sale. NV and ATI would not buy it, they already have their own products that would compete with series 4 and 5.

Matrox could possibly be an interested party as they have licensed PowerVR technology before. Will be interesting to watch this unfold. Kyro 3 is DEAD as a doornail though
 
This is no real suprise.........they're first couple were not up to expectations IMHO and I tried both! They probably did the market research and realized they would/could not compete in that area and that their upcoming card would/could not compete with nVidia/ATI...........
 
So it's ATI and nVidia, kind of like Intel and AMD.

So which one is Intel and which is AMD?
 
and those wildcat oxygen cards too...

nvidia stock is down today... so if they're making a purchase, stock price goes down...
but this could be totally unrelated..
 
Personally, I can't see nVidia or ATI wanting to purchase these guys.........not much there they would want/need and what they could use..........they most likely wouldn't get!😉
 
It would be nice to see Matrox buy them, but don't count VIA out. VIA bought S3 last year and may be able to get really seriously into the gpu market with Kyro. One thing is for sure, we need more competition in the graphics biz.
 
I think the comparison between ATI/nVidia and AMD/Intel is extremely good. Someone mentioned Matrox, but they are an equivalent of VIA/Cyrix 🙂

So, we can now make "mainstream" machines (ie Intel+nVidia+Creative+Plextor) vs. "alternative" systems (ie AMD+ATI+Acoustic Edge+LiteOn). Nice...

I really wonder who's going to buy the Kyro technology. Maybe Intel would go back in the business of graphics. The worst would be not an acquisition by nVidia, but an acquisition by Microsoft. Can you imagine the leverage Microsoft would get on the market if they start producing hardware? 😱
 
Anita,

wow!!! you hit the nail on the head. I use the system AMD+ATI+Liteon. Although I use creative (sound blaster live!). But this line with proper driver and tweaking works like a charm. The other line is impressive too. But will cost one about 30% more without any significant gain on performnce. I am extremely happy with Liteon DVD and CDRW. Lite on DVD roms reads any (I mean bad quality) DVDs (when other playres including sony or toshiba says DVD may be damaged). The lite on CDRW has not destroyed a single CD till now. I can copy CD to CD at 24x both being on the same channel.
 
Anita,

wow!!! you hit the nail on the head. I use the system AMD+ATI+Liteon. Although I use creative (sound blaster live!). But this line with proper driver and tweaking works like a charm. The other line is impressive too. But will cost one about 30% more without any significant gain on performnce. I am extremely happy with Liteon DVD and CDRW. Lite on DVD roms reads any (I mean bad quality) DVDs (when other playres including sony or toshiba says DVD may be damaged). The lite on CDRW has not destroyed a single CD till now. I can copy CD to CD at 24x both being on the same channel.
 
Anita,

wow!!! you hit the nail on the head. I use the system AMD+ATI+Liteon. Although I use creative (sound blaster live!). But this line with proper driver and tweaking works like a charm. The other line is impressive too. But will cost one about 30% more without any significant gain on performnce. I am extremely happy with Liteon DVD and CDRW. Lite on DVD roms reads any (I mean bad quality) DVDs (when other playres including sony or toshiba says DVD may be damaged). The lite on CDRW has not destroyed a single CD till now. I can copy CD to CD at 24x both being on the same channel.
 
Ouch. That sucks. I always thought that they had potential, Oh well, I guess, I disagree with those that say that nVidia and ATi have nothing to gain from STMicro's Tile Based Rendering technology. I will be the first to agree that both ATi and nVidia have progressed significantly in doing basically when the TBR does, but still I think they both could find a use for the technology. Something else to keep an eye one.
 
I don't think it's the end of Kyro for certain as STMicro did not own the technologies and patents related to the Kyro, they had merely licensed it from Imagination Technologies, STMicro did the chip layout and repining; and fabbed the initial Kyro, and used TSMC to fab KYROII.
Any purchasers would get the chip designers and the license to use the PowerVR Series 4 & 5 technology.
Imagination Technologies still owns all of the IP.

Imagination Technologies still have PowerVR Technologies (and hence the IP) but it'll take time to find a new partner who can develop the next gen.

I wonder if a possible purchaser could be VIA?
It's well known that VIA was heavily involved with the negotiation for 3dfx IP and associated technologies, up until the last minute most people thought VIA would be the purchaser befoe nVidi came and put in a superior offer that VIA couldnt match.
Plus VIA already owns the existing technoligies from S3's former line.
And it's been mentioned many times that VIA is working on various non-integrated graphics chips, they have an entirely separate unit dedicated to developing graphics chips.
It's seems like something they would be heavily interested in, and the tile based rendering technology would lend itself extremely well to VIA's existing integrated graphics cores, as limited memory bandwidth is obviously a huge factor for integrated solutions.

nVidia definitely isnt likely, as they already own IP for tile based technology and have as yet done little with it. Besides that they wouldnt get the technology, only the license to use it. And the licensing for PowerVR series 4&5 technology would likely be dead by the time nVidia made any use out of it.

Perhaps NEC would be interested?
They used to be heavily involved with Imagination Technologies, and developed and sold previous chips based on PowerVR technology.
Plus their still developing and manufacturing graphics chips and boards over in Japan.

In any case there are clearly purchasers that would be very interested in acquiring the rights to use said technology, and IMG Tech can always find another partner to develop the Kyro. They've done it twice before already, this will be a third time they find a new partner.
Kyro will live on, it just won't be from STMicro.
 


<< Oh well, I guess, I disagree with those that say that nVidia and ATi have nothing to gain from STMicro's Tile Based Rendering technology >>



TBR is the IP of PowerVR, not STM. I wish these companies were more clear on their relationship. Let me spell it out. STM owns NO Intellectual Property (IP) contained in any of the Series 3, Series 4, Series 5. They have licensed the use of the design from PowerVR, that is it. If Nvidia purchased the graphics division, the ONLY thing they would get from it would be to produce a PowerVR graphics product, nothing more. They could not use any of the techonology for their own products.
 
Rand: it really couldnt be a very big list of companies. The company would have to have the capacity to do tapeouts, and a foundry to produce. That doesnt leave very many options. Matrox, ATI, NV, SIS, VIA, AMD, Intel, Creative Labs, Cirrus Logic.
 
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