Silicon Integrated Systems Corp (SiS) has thrown out a lifeline to microprocessor design firm Rise Technology Inc just as it seemed on the brink of ditching some or all of its x86 processor designs. Following in the footsteps of fellow Taiwanese company, VIA Technologies Inc, SiS has licensed a swathe of x86 CPU technology and intellectual property from Santa Clara, California-based Rise, which should enable it to develop low-end CPUs and chipsets to compete with Intel Corp and VIA. The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
In a statement, SiS said that the deal means it is the only company in the world – besides Intel – with a full platform of 3C technologies including CPU, core logic, multimedia and connectivity, and its own fabrication plant. Other major Taiwanese chipset designers and manufacturers – VIA and Acer Labs Inc – have already inked deals that will see them bringing integrated chipset products to market by the end of this year. VIA bought the Cyrix and Centaur x86 units from National Semiconductor Corp and IDT Corp respectively. Meanwhile, Acer has teamed up with Nvidia Corp to produce an integrated graphics chipset, which should be a rival to Intel’s best selling 810 ‘Whitney’ chipset.
The deal is good news for Rise, which was fast becoming the ugly ducking of x86 world. However, it is not yet clear if SiS will want to use all of Rise’s range of designs in forthcoming products. The Microprocessor Report said last week that Rise had been intending to drop its Socket 370 Celeron rival, codenamed Tiger, to concentrate on its mP6 II with onboard Level 2 cache. The mP6 II has apparently garnered interest from Asian notebook manufacturers because of its very low power consumption, while Rise needs an infusion of cash to develop Tiger so that it runs at clock speeds that compete with the latest version of the Celeron and Advanced Micro Devices Inc’s K6-III. A chipset based around the mP6 II with integrated graphics and audio functions may allow SiS and Rise to tap into the growing need for computing power in the mobile and set-top market and move out of the race between VIA and Intel for low-margin desktop share.
