ATI announces manufacturing, sales deal with Acer-DMS chip giant

MARKHAM, Ont. (CP) - ATI Technologies Inc.(ATY) has struck a deal to allow Taiwan's computer chip giant Acer-DMS to manufacture and distribute ATI's graphics chips around the world. The deal with Acer-DMS, announced late Sunday, comes a few days after ATI adopted a new strategy to increase sales of its products by forming alliances with leading global chip makers.

Financial terms of the deal were not revealed.

ATI said it will continue to provide chips and computer boards to original equipment manufacturers such as IBM, Apple and others in the mainstream, high-end and workstation markets and will continue to support ATI-branded retail products.

However, the agreement with Acer-DMS will give computer system integrators and distributors a wider choice of suppliers of ATI desktop graphics chips and a more competitive market, the Toronto-area high tech company said.

ATI said it will help Acer-DMS get to market more quickly with high-quality products by providing the Taiwanese company with a full range of reference designs, optimized software drivers on the web and technical support.

"We are excited to be working closely with Acer-DMS to combine our graphics technologies and their world-class volume operations to deliver products to system integrators and distributors around the world," said K.Y. Ho, ATI's chief executive.

David Orton, ATI's president, said the deal with Acer-DMS "will enable ATI to focus on its core competency - building technology-leading 3D chips and developing the software applications, marketing initiatives and customer support around them . . .

"ATI is the world's best-known brand of graphics processor and I know this was a factor in the decision by Acer-DMS to manufacture our products and market them to system integrators and distributors around the world," he said.

"Acer-DMS is excited to expand our long-term partnership with ATI by enabling us to manufacture and distribute its full range of products," said Dixon Cheng, Acer-DMS's executive vice-president for products.

"For many years, ATI graphics processors have been a much-desired brand around the world and one for which we believe there is considerable pent-up demand."

ATI, based in Markham, just north of Toronto, has more than 1,900 employees around the world. The comany is a world leader in the supply of graphics, video and multimedia chips and software.