SiS has let the cat out of the bag. Yesterday, it announced half a dozen chipsets all of which will support AMD's Socket AM2 microprocessors - none of which have yet been formally introduced by the chip maker - which will ship in Q2, SiS said.

SiS' AM2 line-up includes two desktop parts and four mobile chipsets, with one discrete offering in each category. The company said the chipsets would support AMD's Athlon 64 X2, Athlon 64 FX, Athlon 64, Sempron and Opteron processors.

"The new generation AMD Socket AM2 CPUs include an embedded DDR 2 memory controller that supports up to 333MHz DDR2-667 memory and dual channel technology," the chipset maker said.

The desktop range comprises the SiS756 and SiS761GX, the latter incorporating the company's DirectX 9-compatible Mirage 1 graphics core. Both support external graphics cards through a 16x PCI Express slot.

The SiS756 will also ship in a mobile form, joined by the SiSM760, SiSM761GX and the SiSM760GX. The two 760 parts contain a Mirage 2 graphics core and lack external graphics card support. The 761 has a Mirage 1 engine and can drive a 16x PCI Express slot.

SiS said AMD's Socket AM2 parts "will be available on the second quarter of 2006", stressing that the chipsets' release this week "paves the way" for the new AMD CPUs. The chipsets themselves will ship in Q2, SiS said.

"SiS and AMD have built a strong and long-lasting strategic partnership," the chipset maker said, though how AMD will react to this week's bean spillage remains to be seen... ®