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VIA to Create Pentium 4 'Clone'
PyroMosh writes: "ZDNet is carrying a brief article about VIA's plans to start producing clones of the Pentium 4. VIA's already in legal trouble with Intel and it seems unlikley that this will go unchallenged by the chipmaking juggernaut. The Register is also covering this, and SiliconStrategies.com has an article with a bit more detail."
Seems that in this case, a lawsuit makes sense. If I made something, had a competitor copy it (and not have my okay), you bet I'd sue.
-- The Hollow Man
Non illegitimati carborundum
To reverse engineer and duplicate a processor requires a superior understanding of processor design and construction.
Once you have reverse engineered the processor, why wouldn't you then put your resources into designing a better processor based on what you've learned, rather than wasting time making a clone?
Since intel is already hating on them for making a P4 chipset, and no mobo makers wanted to use it, VIA decided to make thier own motherboards, now this is just the next step why stop at making motherboards they are going to make the processors to go in them too.
If P4 has been legitimately reverse-engineered, then VIA is beyond reproach. Typically, the companies who live by reverse-engineering go to great length to document the process. Of course, they'd have to pay hefty legal fees if that process is challenged in court, but for the giant like VIA this isn't much of a problem.
When IBM first brought out their PCs they were
"cloned". IBM brought on the lawsuits which
ultimately failed. The important word here is
"cloned" which has a different meaning then
"copied". Cloning attempts reproduce the
functionality of the cloned item by coming up
with their own design. "Copying" makes an exact
duplicate of the original, which of course would
be illegal. (eg. like selling copied software CDs)
VIA bought the Cyrix name and it's hardly fair to characterize any product under that name as being inferior.
VIA probably chose to clone the Intel chips because they feel that they have a license to do so (it being the same license that they feel gives them the right to create the Intel P4 chipsets).
Why not go higher performance, like AMD? In addition to the Intel license issue, the fact is that a 1.5ghz AMD is viewed by the public as being less powerful than a 2.0ghz Intel part. People are stupid, they don't read benchmarks, and it's not likely to change.
The market for these would be people who are not already emotionally/contractually tied to Intel. This space is primarily held by AMD. Via is less likely to get any customers out of Intel. They are more likely to take customers from AMD.
Sure Intel will gripe, but if they're smart they'll let VIA in just enough to pound AMD.
There is nothing so silly as other peoples traditions, and nothing so sacred as our own.
Is already known to be highly saturated. Will VIA's chips be signifigantly cheaper than the Celrons or Durons (or at least have a better cost-to-performance ratio?) If so, will that margin be enough to keep the company afloat?
This sounds like something that would have been a great idea a year or two ago, but in this competitive (and now saturated) market, it will be tough going for the guys at VIA.