S3 Sweepstake: Via edges into the lead

S3's suitor for its 3D graphics chip business is Via, according to a source "close to the talks" cited by Electronic Buyer's News. Neither S3 nor Via have confirmed the claim, but, as we said yesterday, Via remains one of the four most likely buyers - the rest being Nvidia, ATI and Intel - primarily because it has already mooted buying S3, earlier this year. And the companies are already involved with each other through a joint spin-off operation, S3-Via, which is working on ways to integrate S3's graphics technology into Via's low-end PC chipsets. Via's rival, Acer Labs, has been doing the same kind of work with ArtX, now owned by one of S3's rivals, ATI. EBN's mole couldn't say whether the deal involves the S3 name - the one most associated with the chips - or the Diamond brand - the name most associated with the end product, the add-in cards - or even whether Via will take the technology and engineers alone. ® Related Stories S3 chip team sale: the potential buyers lined up S3 readies graphics chips hive-off