Chipset designer Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS) recently revealed that it has acquired licensing for Intel’s Hyper-Threading Technology and that five of its products support the new standard. Instead of an official announcement, SiS released the information on its website last week. Most motherboard makers said that they had not been informed and were unaware of the news.
The five chipsets include the RDRAM-based SiSR658, notebook-use SiSM650 and desktop-supporting SiS648, SiS645DX and SiS651. The B versions of these products, which support the new Hyper-Threading Technology, are scheduled to start volume shipments this month, SiS said. The company will also introduce a Hyper-Threading-enabled version for its latest SiS655 chipset shortly.
Earlier, concern about the technology licensing was renewed when Intel said it would adopt Hyper-Threading Technology and an 800MHz FSB (front-side bus) standard for its Springdale platform. The market speculated about the possible impact on chipset designers such as SiS and ALi Corporation (formerly Acer Laboratories) should they fail to acquire licensing for the technologies from the chip giant.
SiS says that it is still negotiating licensing for the 800MHz FSB technology.
Article translated by Christy Lee and edited by Richard So
