ATI dropping graphics cards?

This is odd... I saw this on another forum:

"After two years of being “a card company” and “a chip company” at the same time, ATI Technologies reportedly decided to totally withdraw itself from graphics cards business and concentrate fully on selling its VPUs to Add-In-Board partners.

A web-site said today that an unidentified source from ATI Technologies told them that the company will change its strategy; as a consequence, the company will cease to market its graphics cards and will fully dedicate itself to VPU development and selling. It means that we will not see any “Built by ATI” graphics cards on the market, but there will be more solutions by companies like Sapphire, TYAN, Gigabyte, Club3D, Power Color, Hercules and so on. In order to ensure the highest possible quality after the launch of higher-end products, ATI Technologies will outsource the manufacturing of such solutions to its current partner (PC Partner, the owner of Sapphire) and control the quality itself. Such products will still be marketed under different brand-names. The only consumer solutions to be sold under ATI’s own brand-name are ALL-IN-WONDER multimedia graphics cards.

As a result of yet another change in business model, ATI Technologies will shut down its free technical support services via phone and will deploy the same services charging the users additional money

AthlonXP.com thinks that the decision may affect RADEON 9800 PRO 256MB pricing. They suggest that “Built by ATI” 9800 PRO with 256MB will become $10 more expensive, whereas the “Powered by ATI” products will become $20 cheaper.
I now wonder what will happen to TV-tuner cards, FIRE GL professional graphics cards as well as other products “Built by ATI”. Let us wait for ATI’s official statement to find this out.
"

Shouldn't make much of a difference... Looks like they are still making the chips and stuff, they just don't want to make the cards themselves anymore.

um, got a link to a story or is that just a rumor?

chris

Yeah that would make sense (Deker).... I guess that is what NVidia has been doing.... -Its from a post (if you read the first line I wrote) and there wasnt a link....

It's no biggie at all. Nvidia basically never made their owns cards, at least after the 3Dfx days. And we all know how successful Nvidia is *giggle*.

Yeah, as long as they still make the chips they'll be in great shape, especially now that more and more companies are picking up their product.

Rumor!

Thats crap... as of right now they are the leading graphic card company on the market, and IMO they make the best cards currently avalible. I highly dought a company that is doing as good as they are is going to stop :P

They would still make the chips and the spec designs of the cards fusion, they just wouldn't actually manufacture the phsyical cards themselves in mass production.

They'll basically make the chips. And that's it. They just won't put them on PCB's themselves.

Yep.

I heard about a new graphic card that was supposed to come out this summer to compete with the GeForce FX? the radeon 9800 or something? Is that true and is it made by ATI?

maybe I'm beside the tracks completly too :p :rolleyes: