S3 Inc says that it is ahead of its competitors in the notebook graphics accelerator market, winning deals for its mobile Savage chips with four out of the top five notebook manufacturers in the world. Paul Crossley, a spokesperson for S3, would not name the companies, but Compaq Computer Corp, Dell Computer Corp, IBM Corp, NEC Corp and Toshiba Corp are likely contenders. The Santa Clara, California-based company has just completed its merger with board maker Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc.
Crossley says that winning mobile graphics deals is a very good thing in the long-term because OEM manufacturers cannot simply slip cards in and out of their systems as they would an AGP card for a PC. He claimed that the 0.18 micron Savage MX and IX chips left S3’s competitors behind in the mobile graphics field. However, he admitted that Canadian rival ATI Technologies Inc is likely to make a strong comeback with its mobile Rage 128 chip.
Crossley said that the deals were the start of the consolidation of the mobile graphics market, with S3 and ATI as the two major players. I don’t see the likes of NeoMagic ever catching up, he said. S3’s next mobile Savage chip will be on the blocks in the first quarter of next year.
