The Wall Street Journal-20080124-Via Bets Chips on Reducing Power Use- Processors Attract Makers Of Small Internet Devices- A Silverthorne in Its Side-
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Via Bets Chips on Reducing Power Use; Processors Attract Makers Of Small Internet Devices; A Silverthorne in Its Side?
Via Technologies Inc., a tiny competitor in microprocessor chips, has a head start in a new market that giant Intel Corp. covets. And the Taiwanese company predicts its next chip can help build on that lead.
The two companies, and others, are betting on the emergence of new portable computing devices -- smaller than conventional laptop computers and larger than cellphones -- for using the Internet. Such products demand extremely low power consumption to extend battery life.
Via, founded in 1987, is best known for chip sets, which connect microprocessors to the rest of a system. It later began battling Intel and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. in microprocessors that use a design called x86 and run popular software built on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating systems. Designs of those chips are handled by Centaur Technology Inc., a small Austin, Texas, company Via purchased seven years ago.
Instead of targeting personal computers, Centaur's engineers have focused on calculating engines whose power consumption suits such portable devices. Its current chips draw a maximum of 3.5 watts and usually less, said G. Glenn Henry, Centaur's president. By comparison, Intel's Web site rates the power draw on its popular Core 2 Duo chips for standard laptops at 17 watts to 35 watts.
Via has been winning deals to supply microprocessors for some new- wave machines, including a high-end pocket computer from San Francisco start-up OQO Inc. and a $199 GreenPC produced by Everex of Fremont, Calif., and sold by Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
Intel is determined to change that picture. At a technical conference in San Francisco that starts Feb. 3, the company plans to unveil details of a chip for such products, code-named Silverthorne, whose power draw is rated at less than 2 watts. Intel, whose design team for the product is also located in Austin, is expected to ship Silverthorne in the second quarter.
Mr. Henry said he believes Via can top Silverthorne with a new design, code-named Isaiah, that will hit the market about the same time. While Intel focused on reducing power consumption, Isaiah offers two to four times the computing performance of Via's existing chips yet draws the same amount of power and plugs into the same sockets as its existing products.
"We will beat it on performance, I'm sure of that," Mr. Henry said of Silverthorne.
Intel declined comment.
The new product comes at a critical time for Via, which has been losing sales of chip sets lately, largely to Intel, analysts say. The company hasn't released fourth-quarter results but recently disclosed 2007 sales of $452,788, down almost 32% from the prior year.
Dean McCarron, an analyst at Mercury Research, in Cave Creek, Ariz., said it is too early to tell which chip will end up being the fastest. But Via, because it helped define technical requirements for the low- power segment, is likely to get some business as Intel helps broaden interest in smaller computing devices.
"If Intel puts marketing dollars, we can see the demand side coming along," said Shane Rau, an analyst at IDC, another research firm. He added that Isaiah's increased performance may attract makers of some conventional notebook computers, too.
