Rumours that ATI will acquire XGI
- Thread starter tEd
- Start date
Well there is, that is you have to consider; uhm......geo said:
....nope, can't come up with a single reason.
Joe DeFuria
Legend
It would seem to me that much of ATI's interest in XGI would be the same as nVidia's interest in ULI...not primarily the technology, but the local business presence and network.
XGI has a business presence? Where?Joe DeFuria said:
Joe DeFuria
Legend
_xxx_ said:
How is XGI's business doing in Taiwan?
Joe DeFuria
Legend
_xxx_ said:
Not sure how big, but I beleive the far east in general is where they do most of their business.
When you are becoming more and more of a global company like ATI, at some point in your growth you try to localize parts of your business. Particularly, you have local sales offices that network with prospective customers. It is very difficult to "grow" such an infrastructure when you are foreign to that market / culture. Buying something that has already been grown by "locals" is typically an easier way to do this...that comes with its own risks, of course.
I'm sure there is significant value in the engineering team (as geo suggested) as well. But I doubt that the technology in and of itself was a major driver for the acquisition. (Assuming this is all true, of course!)
satein said:
Yeah, that was the first thing that popped into my brain when I heard about this. . .the FS paroxysms of joy over their video decoding in cheap-ass parts.
Maybe if it's really good software algos, ATI might be interested in that and the software engineers who work on them. But if it's hardware stuff, I don't know if that fits too well.
Edit: Expanding on that a little further, the Vista "Premium" tag re IGP seemed to be something that Crowley and Sharma were interested in during the Goldman Sachs call. They are unsure yet what that's going to entail, as MS hasn't finalized it yet. One might speculate that this might be driven by video decoding capability. One might further speculate that using X1300 as a reference point, for instance, that their Vista IGP part might not yet be where they want it to be in things like h.264 to maximize their chances for that. An infusion of video decode software wizards might be an attractive thing. . .
EditII: Add ". . .used to getting the most out of. .err. . .'slender hardware resources' " after software wizards above. I'm starting to like this theory more and more. Must be careful tho, we don't even know whether to be taking this rumor seriously yet.
Last edited by a moderator:
Why not? Who's to say that XGI doesn't have some IP lying around in a sock-drawer that is (significantly) better than what ATI has for certain applications. Even if the total of N+(100% - N) is not competitive doesn't mean that the N parts that are can't be pretty damn good.Joe DeFuria said:
Joe DeFuria
Legend
Zaphod said:
Because I haven't seen any products to suggest that's the case.
Sure...that's a possibility. Haven't look at their patent portfolio.
I never said that XGI doesn't have "pretty damn good parts." To be clear just to have ANY parts on the market in this day and age basically means that you have pretty damn good engineers. Just to compete at all means that your parts have to be pretty damn good in absolute standards.
Buying XGI because they have competant engineers who have demonstrated the ability to deliver respectable parts is not the same as buying XGI for their technology. I personally believe the transaction would be due to the former (as well as localized business reasons.) Again, this is just personal opinion based primarily on the products they have brought to market.
Agreed. Just to be clear: I meant 'parts' as in parts of products, not as products in itself. I think most have seen products (whatever their field may be) that are bad or broken as a whole, but when picked apart have pieces to them (that may not have been readily apparent) that could further improve products that was decicively better to start with.Joe DeFuria said:
Anyway: I'm sure ATI will give a rationale when they announce the deal if it's true.
Maybe Dave Orton has some change and an almost finished Snicker bar to spare?
Acquiring XGI, heh?
Can I say "LOL"?
I mean they have a small pool of engineers, and some would argue that those are not the best in town, their IP catalog is nothing Ati could be really interested with and their only and rare AIB relations are already in the Ati camp...
Maybe Ati absolutely wants a Taiwan pied à terre. But then again, why XGI?
Acquiring XGI, heh?
Can I say "LOL"?
I mean they have a small pool of engineers, and some would argue that those are not the best in town, their IP catalog is nothing Ati could be really interested with and their only and rare AIB relations are already in the Ati camp...
Maybe Ati absolutely wants a Taiwan pied à terre. But then again, why XGI?
Karma Police
Regular
We'll all find out tomorrow, won't we?