VIA is now officially Taiwan's third biggest chip company, according to figures issued by the island's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), the local Commercial Times has reported.

ITRI's stats are based on sales recorded during the first nine months of 2001. During that period, VIA knocked Winbond out of the top three, a result of the relative buoyancy of the chipset market (VIA's home territory) and the weakness of the DRAM business (Winbond's specialism).

Ahead of VIA occupying the top of the tree and the number two position are TSMC and UMC, respectively. With Winbond now at number four, the remaining members of Taiwan's top ten chip companies in order are: Macronix, ASE, Siliconware, Powerchip, MediaTek and Nanya.

During the three-quarter period covered by ITRI's figures, the production value of Taiwan's chip industry fell 22.3 per cent on the same period of 2000, valuing the business at NT$398 billion ($11.6 billion), the organisation said. ®