One unexpected beneficiary of Intel Corp’s decision to support PC133 synchronous DRAM chips could be its Taiwanese x86 rival, VIA Technologies Inc. Intel had been expected to try to pioneer its own souped-up PC133 specification, however, it has chosen to go with the current industry specification – which was mostly laid out by VIA and the PC133 Forum.
VIA is likely to be the company that manages to sell chipsets on the back of the Intel announcement. Although Intel’s move means that PC133 has industry-wide support, the company won’t have a compliant product out until the first half of next year. VIA launched its Apollo PC133 product last July and is promising a slew of PC133 chipsets aimed at a variety of market sectors.
