***SiS Plan for 2001
SiS has predicted that market demand linked to the PC industry
will still be limited in the first half of the year, and the
entire market situation will not be clear until after the Chinese
New Year.
SiS's 8-inch wafer fab has adopted 0.18 and 0.15-micron process
technologies. Although production volume in the first quarter of
this year will be lower than 50,000 units, all-year production
volume will reach 250,000.
Backed by sufficient capacity, SiS plans to intensify its
economies of scale and expand its product lines to boost its
presence in the chipset market. SiS has begun to post prices of
its SDRAM-based 633 and 733 discrete chipsets, set to enter mass
production at the end of the first quarter of this year, to
first-tier motherboard makers.
SiS's new chipset products intend to challenge the VIA 694x and
the Intel 815EP and thus are priced at less than US$19. SiS plans
to lower the price of SiS 630E, SiS 630S, and other products by
around 10% to attract motherboard clients. Compared with chipset
suppliers worldwide, SiS claims that as an integrated design
manufacturer (IDM) it has a cost advantage.
One of the reasons it claims to have such an advantage is the
split in design and production between Taiwanese design houses
and wafer foundry companies. Further, SiS, prides itself with its
price adjustment. As a result it feels the combination of these
elements will allow it to win OEM orders in the chipset market in
2001.
Wave Issue 0108 2/8/01 Article 5-03