HTC Buys S3 Graphics From VIA, WTI For $300 Million(techcrunch.com)
techcrunch.com
HTC Buys S3 Graphics From VIA, WTI For $300 Million
http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/06/smartphone-maker-htc-buys-s3-graphics-from-via-wti-for-300-million/
4 comments
The patent angle is also interesting -- S3 did some important early 3d acceleration research, and it is literally impossible to ship a modern system that uses either Direct3D or OpenGL without licensing some S3 patents. Every single laptop, notebook, game console or handset on the market today uses S3 tech, and now HTC has the ability to stop them from being sold. This is just the kind of blunt instrument that HTC needs to keep Apple and it's patent claims at bay.
Erm, how would that work? Apple is just shipping PowerVR chips. Presumably PowerVR has the proper licenses, or a cross-licensing agreement with S3.
I wonder if this is more protective against Microsoft?
The relevant licensee is Microsoft, who got the ability from S3 to sublicense S3TC as DXTC. A little bit of every graphics card sold today goes back to Microsoft for that patent.
Kinda sad that a lot of graphics manufacturers are either out of the picture (Tseng, Voodoo) or just do embedded work (PowerVR). I think a bit of competition would be good for the desktop market…
(Still remember my S3 Trio. First card I had with decent X11 support.)
(Still remember my S3 Trio. First card I had with decent X11 support.)
This is interesting, perhaps HTC is going to license ARM tech for their own proprietary package w/ integrated S3 graphics. That would essentially cut out Texas Instruments, Qualcomm & nVidia from one of the largest handset manufacturers. Obviously it's probably not going to be an overnight transition.
I just notice VIA and HTC are founded by the same woman[1], and I know the financial situation of VIA is not good...
[1] http://blog.laptopmag.com/2011-most-important-women-in-mobil...
[1] http://blog.laptopmag.com/2011-most-important-women-in-mobil...