Via to Buy STMicro's graphic Div.(Kyro)?

[Killrose]

Saw this info about this over at HardOCP that Via is eyeing STMicro for a possible buy. They did after all buy S3 so who knows.

 

[Gog]

Implications could be interesting.

I believe VIA will be releasing mobo's with integrated graphics this upcoming summer so aquiring the Kyro line could make them that much more competitive in this area.

 

[spanky]

now why didn't they buy 3dfx and keep the voodoo legacy going

 

[AmdInside]

I would rather have Intel or some other company buy STM's graphic division. Via sucks. I definately would never buy a Kyro product if it had the name Via on it.

 

[Gog]

Uhhhh, AMDInside, what are you talking about?

The KT266a is one of the best chipsets out there that are available for the Athlon.

 

[vedin]

Well put Gog. Also since VIA wouldn't even be designing the chips anyway, (PowerVR would), there wouldn't be much they could fudge up. I think AMDinside is thinking about VIA's less...tolerant chipsets they've made in the past, and a couple of sets that are still being sold. (Some VIA chipsets and the SB LIVEs. Not like the SB LIVES were great in compatability to start with but..) I think, though, that if VIA were to purchase STM's graphics division, it COULD do a world of good for PowerVR. VIA has always aimed for the high end market of chipsets, and I think they would do the same with PowerVR's Kyro architecture. They could put the Kyro 2 cores as integrated solutions on mobos and sell them as stand-alone card chips. Not to mention that they would probably aim for the higher end market than STM might have when it comes to the "Kyro 3".

 

[vss1980]

Well, if VIA did buy ST's PowerVR license then that would put them in a great position for hiigh-speed integrated graphics chipsets.

With such effective use of bandwidth from the PowerVR architecture, it would lend itself quite well to the low bandwidth limitations of shared memory chipsets. Also, VIA would be more than willing to manufacture future PowerVR products for standalone graphics cards as they have always wanted to have a high performance part in all areas, something they failed to do when they bought into S3 Graphics.
If VIA did make this move though, that would pretty much make S3 obsolete and the current and next generation ProSavage chipsets would be the end of that line as the PowerVR architecture would surely superseed the S3 Graphics one.