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China Chips with Chinese Heart

Naturally enough, Wang Xuehong is unequivocal in her praise of VIA Technology. She is, after all, its chairwoman.

“It is an exceptional enterprise that is beneficial to society and that vigorously promotes development of the high-tech and IT industries in China,” she said. “We are now in our 14th and have matured greatly. As one of the world’s largest chipset suppliers, we are starting to take on a whole new look in China.”

As the daughter of Wang Yongqing, president of the Taiwan Plastics Group and reputedly the wealthiest man in Taiwan, Wang Xuehong has benefited from a prestigious background, but she has also found her own way and she keeps to it. Her success has made her one of the wealthiest women in Taiwan.

Small is Beautiful!

Wang believes that the trend in personal computing is toward smaller machines. Hence, VIA focuses on miniaturization and integrating features at the silicon, platform and system levels, which has been enabled by the great strides made in power efficiency over the last few years. The traditional PC platform is becoming smaller, cooler and lighter than ever before. This, in turn, is accelerating the pace of digital intelligence proliferation.

She said, “VIA is trying to propel the industry to progressive miniaturization and power economy of computer solutions by offering new innovative products––processors, chipsets, reference motherboards and form factors.”

To highlight VIA’s industry leadership in miniaturization and integration at the silicon level, Wang displayed an UltraMobile PC that combines a VIA C7-M Esther mobile processor core with the very latest totally integrated mobile chipset to the media.

Clean Computing

She emphasized that VIA is a leading proponent of clean computing from a power usage, manufacturing, and ergonomics perspective and prides itself on pioneering clean computing initiatives, such as carbon-free computing and quiet computing, and being first to the market with environmentally friendly products.

Established in Fremont, California, in the United States in 1987, VIA built up its business and brand name around cutting edge chipsets for Intel and AMD microprocessor-based PCs. Recognizing the changing demands of consumers and the IT industry as a whole, VIA has expanded its product portfolio to include critical building blocks such as powerful, efficient processors; graphics; audio; video; networking and optical-storage chips to provide total silicon- and board-level platforms for environmentally friendly, smart connected devices.

VIA is committed to its vision of total connectivity that will enable the creation of an exciting new world of convenience, affordability and access to the rich information, entertainment, educational, and commercial resources on the Internet, for developed and developing nations alike. VIA is striving to provide highly efficient, affordable and innovative computing platforms that work together with and compliment existing infrastructures such as power grids and distribution channels by educating markets about the benefits of clean computing for the environment, productivity and the user experience.

Wang still drives a 10-year-old Toyota Camry, emphasizing that environmental protection and a green lifestyle is not only the company’s goal but her personal wish.

Meeting the Market Challenge

VIA meets the ever-changing demands of the computing and communications markets by anticipating and developing the most appropriate new technologies to satisfy customer needs in terms of functionality, performance and cost effectiveness. Although VIA has kept ahead of the industry by anticipating appropriate upcoming technologies and integrating them into the widest range of core logic chipsets in the industry. Facing the company’s two biggest competitors Intel and AMD, Wang said, “I want to show Chinese can be the best; we have the best technologists and creative abilities.”

Global Operations

Wang said VIA has created a global network linking the IT hubs of Silicon Valley and Texas in North America with the “Greater China Manufacturing Engine,” including China and Taiwan, as well as facilities in Cologne in Germany. This network allows the company to leverage the infrastructure of the world’s leading high-tech R&D and manufacturing centres, and also enables rapid and local responses to the changing needs of its customers, supporting them on a global basis.

On September 29, VIA Technology officially became a Partner of the Vision Beijing film project. This means it will participant in the most important foreign cultural exchange activity of Beijing in 2006–07. 

The Vision Beijing project will invite five internationally known, highly regarded film-makers to make short films about Beijing and its preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Vision Beijing is a project of the Beijing Foreign Cultural Exchanges Association and Information Office of the Beijing Municipal Government, organized by the Beijing Foreign Cultural Exchanges Center and Beijing This Month Publications, and assisted by Sun & Sea Culture Communication Company Limited.

 VIA Corporate Overview

VIA Technologies Incorporated is the foremost supplier of market-leading core logic chipsets, low power x86 processors, advanced connectivity, multimedia, networking and storage silicon, and complete platform solutions that are driving system innovation in the PC and embedded markets.

Headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, VIA’s global network links high-tech centres found in the United States, Europe and Asia, and its customer base includes the world’s top OEMs, motherboard vendors and system integrators. VIA is registered on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. To learn more about VIA, see: http://www.via.com.tw/en/