AMD-ATI Merger Causes Motherboard Industry Rethink
AMD's acquisition of ATI has been causing some prominent motherboard manufacturers to rethink their current production strategy. There's a bit of uncertainty floating around over the state of Intel motherboards containing ATI chipsets. As DigiTimes reports, ECS may be having second thoughts about launching their Intel-based boards which contain ATI's RD600 and RS690 IGP chips. On the other end of the spectrum, Gigabyte Technology has plans to produce a motherboard using ATI's RS690 IGP for the AMD platform. To further compete with Intel in the OEM PC Market, AMD may also be planning to bundle their CPUs with ATI chipsets.
"Local motherboard makers are increasingly concerned that the AMD-ATI merger would cause a discontinuation or shortage in supply of ATI chipsets supporting Intel's platform, with the makers citing as a precedent the shortage of ATI's southbridge chips early this year when Nvidia completed its takeover of Taiwan-based ULi Electronics, which previously bundled its southbridge chips with ATI's northbridge parts."
