According to rumors on the web VIA Technologies Inc will launch two low-cost WinChip processors soon, resulting from its buy-out of IDT Inc’s Centaur x86 group. The Taiwanese firm recently revealed details of a new processor – dubbed ‘Joshua’ from its Cyrix unit, but the future of the WinChip line had seemed in some doubt. However, now it seems that two Socket 370 chips will emerge from the Centaur group, possibly before the end of the year.
Recently, a source close to Centaur painted a picture of the state of the WinChip project just before VIA stepped in. The chip, although noted as an efficient design, was falling behind competitors such as Intel Corp’s Celeron and Advanced Micro Devices Inc’s K6-III in the clock speed race. In addition, the much vaunted energy efficiency of the early WinChip design had been lost in later versions. Quite where VIA will position WinChip in the market is open to question. However, as we have speculated before, it may push the WinChip line as low-end notebook processors.
