News Release

VIA Announces Comprehensive Support for New AMD Athlon™ 64 Processors with Advanced K8 Series Chipsets

VIA K8 Series chipsets leverage VIA's unique Hyper8™ technology and integrated Serial ATA/RAID to provide the ultimate platform for new AMD Athlon™ 64 processor based desktop PCs and notebooks

Taipei, Taiwan, 24 September 2003 - VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator and developer of silicon chip technologies and PC platform solutions, today announced full support for the new AMD Athlon™ 64 and AMD Athlon 64 FX processors, through its cutting-edge K8 Series of core-logic chipsets, enabling market-leading performance on today's existing 32-bit applications and providing all the necessary headroom for future 64-bit applications.

The highly scalable VIA K8 Series powers a multitude of AMD Athlon 64 processor-based systems, helping bring high definition AMD64 computing to a wide range of market segments. The VIA K8T800 chipset enables an exciting new generation of 32- and 64-bit capable performance desktop PCs and Media Centers for enthusiasts and consumers who demand the most sophisticated graphics capabilities for gaming and digital video editing. The VIA K8M800 and K8N800 provide an ideal platform for AMD Athlon 64 processor-based mainstream desktops and notebooks respectively, featuring integrated UniChrome™ 2 graphics with DuoView™.

VIA's unique Hyper8™ technology enables a full 16-bit/800MHz implementation of HyperTransport™ technology, creating a high bandwidth link between processor and chipset for the AMD Athlon 64 processor platform, which ensures that all AMD Athlon 64 processor-based systems can achieve their full performance potential. In combination with the market-leading VIA VT8237R South Bridge and a broad array of VIA companion chips, the VIA K8 Series provides the most complete range of storage, multimedia and connectivity features for the AMD Athlon 64 processor platform, including native Serial ATA/RAID, VIA Vinyl Audio, VIA Velocity™ Gigabit Ethernet, and USB2.0.

"With support for VIA's advanced Hyper8 technology, native Serial ATA and integrated V-RAID, VIA K8 Series chipsets provide users with world-class performance and an unparalleled feature set for the new AMD Athlon 64 processor platform," said Chewei Lin, Vice President of Product Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc. "We are delighted to build upon our position as the leading supplier of core-logic chipsets for the AMD platform, and help power the AMD64 revolution."

"The combination of VIA's K8 Series chipsets and the AMD Athlon 64 processor allows users to benefit from the best of both worlds, providing the headroom to easily scale to high-definition 64-bit computing while enabling full compatibility and breathtaking performance for existing 32-bit applications," said Rich Heye, vice president and general manager, AMD's Microprocessor Business Unit.

Motherboards based on the VIA K8T800 chipset are available now from all of the world's leading mainboard vendors. Further information is available on the VIA website at www.via.com.tw/en/k8-series/k8t800.jsp.

[Amended 2004.04.08]

VIA PR Contacts

Note to reporters, editors and writers: VIA is spelled in ALL CAPS.

All product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.