Via shows its first chip set for Pentium 4

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By Sumner Lemon

TAIPEI, Taiwan (IDG) -- Via Technologies may not have a license for the 400MHz system bus used with Intel's Pentium 4 processor, but that didn't stop the company from demonstrating its first Pentium 4 chip set, the P4X266, at the Computex exhibition here on Tuesday.

While the P4X266 is not currently available, Via expects the chip set to ship "in the near future," according to Richard Brown, Via's director of marketing.

"There's still a lot of work to do before it enters production," Brown said.

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Intel and Via have long been rivals in the chip set market, and lawyers for the companies have locked horns over chip sets in the past.

In 1999 Intel filed lawsuits against Via in the United States, Singapore, and the United Kingdom, alleging that Via and some of its customers illegally used the P6 bus in chip sets. At the time of the lawsuit, Via had been winning customers at Intel's expense with a chip set that supported the 133MHz system bus speed. In addition, Intel's delay in releasing its 820 chip set hampered attempts to compete with Via's chip set. The companies settled the lawsuits last year.

Via officials are confident that legal issues will not stop the company from bringing the P4X266 to market.

"The legal team has come to me and said 'We don't have any legal problems,'" said Wenchi Chen, chief executive officer and president of Via. "There is no guarantee Intel won't sue, they always do. But hopefully they will have learned their lessons from the past."

An Intel spokeswoman in Taipei declined to comment on the possible legal ramifications of the P4X266 demonstration.