Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2005/10/26/sis_q4_chipset_surge/

SiS looks to Q4 chipset sales surge

Intel mobo deal in the pipeline?

By Tony Smith

Posted in On-Prem, 26th October 2005 09:18 GMT

Intel's absence from the low-end chipset market - temporary or not - certainly appears to be aiding its competitors. Chipset maker SiS today said it expects Q4 chipset shipments to jump 32 per cent sequentially.

That said, the company did experience a sequential dip in market share in Q3, according to market watcher Mercury Research by way of DigiTimes. But since the dip was just a couple of percentage points, Q4's gain, if it materialises as SiS anticipates, will more than compensate.

Intel's Q3 chipset shipments were down 4.2 per cent on Q2 to 41m units, Mercury's numbers show, but the chip giant still took 62 per cent of the market, down from 66.1 per cent the previous quarter. That would seem to indicate that its decision to shift chipset production to higher end products isn't hitting it hard.

Its rivals, however, used to relatively low shipments and market-share numbers are benefitting strongly from Intel's shift away from the low end. VIA, Nvidia, ATI and ULi all saw small shipment increases between Q2 and Q3, and if SiS' example is anything to go by, Q4 should see sales rise further in the current quarter.

ATI, of course, is now selling chipsets to Intel's motherboard division. SiS has been rumoured to have struck a similar deal with the chip giant, and that could explain its bullish forecast. According to Mercury, SiS shipped 5.3m chipsets in Q3: its growth forecast, if met, will see it ship around 7m chipsets this quarter.

VIA shipped 9.6m chipsets in Q3, followed by Nvidia (5.4m), SiS, ATI (4.4m), ULi (500,000) and other companies (100,000 combined). ®