Editing VIA Technologies (section)

==History==
The company was founded in 1987, in [[Fremont, California]], USA by [[Cher Wang]]. In 1992, it was decided to move the headquarters to [[Taipei]], Taiwan in order to establish closer partnerships with the substantial and growing IT manufacturing base in Taiwan and neighbouring China.<ref name="ComHistory">{{cite web|url=http://www.via.com.tw/en/company/history.jsp|title=Corporate History - VIA Technologies, Inc.|publisher=via.com.tw|access-date=3 January 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103184708/http://www.via.com.tw/en/company/history.jsp|archive-date=3 January 2014}}</ref>

In 1999, VIA acquired most of [[Cyrix]], then a division of [[National Semiconductor]]. That same year, VIA acquired [[Centaur Technology]] from [[Integrated Device Technology]], marking its entry into the [[x86]] [[microprocessor]] market. VIA is the maker of the [[VIA C3]], [[VIA C7]] & [[VIA Nano]] processors, and the [[EPIA]] platform. The Cyrix [[MediaGX]] platform remained with National Semiconductor.

In 2001, VIA established the [[S3 Graphics]] joint venture.

In January 2005, VIA began the [[VIA pc-1 Initiative]], to develop information and communication technology systems to benefit those with no access to computers or Internet. In February 2005, VIA celebrated production of the 100&nbsp;millionth VIA AMD chipset.

In July 2008, VIA Labs, Inc. (VLI) was founded as a wholly-owned subsidiary of VIA Technologies Inc. (VIA) to develop and market integrated circuits primarily for USB 3.0. VLI was intended to be a "smaller and thus more agile" company that can quickly respond to the changing market.<ref name="nilsson2010"/> It would later become an independently traded subsidiary in 2020.<ref>{{cite press release|title=威鋒電子將於12月4日起競拍，預計12月下旬掛牌上市|url=https://www.via-labs.com/pressroom_show.php?id=76|publisher=VIA Labs, Inc.|date=2020-12-02|language=zh-TW}}</ref><ref name="bloomberg.com"/>

In August 2008, the company announced that it was leaving the third-party support chipset business for Intel and AMD CPUs to concentrate on its own x86 processors and integrated motherboards.<ref name='custompc_chipset' /><ref name='register_chipset'>{{cite web|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240308031457/https://www.theregister.com/2008/08/11/via_to_quit_pc_chipset_biz/|archive-date=8 March 2024|url=https://www.theregister.com/2008/08/11/via_to_quit_pc_chipset_biz/|date=11 August 2008|publisher=[[The Register]]|title=VIA heralds end of third-party PC chipset [..] Owned by Intel and AMD now}}</ref> It cited the fact that the third-party chipset market had effectively disappeared and that VIA would require the capability to provide its own platform.<ref name='custompc_chipset'>{{cite web|archiveurl=https://archive.is/FPMuL#selection-649.89-653.219|archivedate=18 October 2013|url=http://www.custompc.co.uk/news/604608/via-quits-motherboard-chipset-business.html|title=VIA quits motherboard chipset business|quote="One of the main reasons we originally moved into the x86 processor business was because we believed that ultimately the third party chipset market would disappear, and we would need to have the capability to provide a complete platform. That has indeed come to pass [and] Intel provides the vast majority of chipsets for its processors [and] AMD is also moving very quickly in the same direction" [quote from Richard Brown of VIA]|publisher=Custom PC}}</ref>

On 29 August 2008, VIA announced that they would release official 2D accelerated Linux drivers for their chipsets, and would also release 3D accelerated drivers.<ref name="SlashdotVia">{{cite web|url=http://linux.slashdot.org/story/08/09/01/0023245/via-releases-foss-graphics-driver|title=VIA Releases FOSS Graphics Driver|publisher=Slashdot|date=31 August 2008|access-date=3 January 2014}}</ref>

In 2013, VIA entered into an agreement with the [[Shanghai Municipal Government]] to create a fabless semiconductor company called [[Zhaoxin]].<ref name="2018-01-03-hexus">{{cite news|last1=Chan|first1=Leon|title=Via's Chinese Joint Venture Aims For Competitive Home-Grown X86 SOCs By 2019|url=http://www.tomshardware.com/news/via-chinese-x86-soc-2019,36209.html|access-date=3 January 2018|publisher=Hexus|date=3 January 2018}}</ref> The joint venture is producing x86 compatible CPUs for the Chinese market.<ref name="2018-01-02-hexus">{{cite news|last1=Tyson|first1=Mark|title=VIA and Zhaoxin ZX- family of x86 processors roadmap shared|url=https://hexus.net/tech/news/cpu/113735-via-zhaoxin-zx-family-x86-processors-roadmap-shared/|access-date=2 January 2018|publisher=Hexus.net|date=2 January 2018}}</ref>

In November 2021, Intel recruited some of the employees of the [[Centaur Technology]] division from VIA, a deal worth $125 million, and effectively acquiring the talent and know-how of the x86 division.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Ryan |title=VIA To Offload Parts of x86 Subsidiary Centaur to Intel For $125 Million |url=https://www.anandtech.com/show/17049/via-to-offload-parts-of-x86-subsidiary-centaur-to-intel-for-125-million |access-date=11 November 2021 |work=AnandTech |date=5 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Dobberstein |first1=Laura |title=Intel pays VIA $125m to acquire its x86 design talent |url=https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/08/via_sells_centaur_staff_to_intel/ |access-date=11 November 2021 |work=The Register |date=8 November 2021}}</ref> VIA retained the x86 licence and associated patents, and its Zhaoxin CPU joint-venture continues.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tomshardware.com/news/last-x86-via-chip-centuar-cns-cpu-tested |title=The Last x86 Via Chip: Unreleased Next-Gen Centaur CNS Saved From Trash Bin, Tested &#124; Tom's Hardware |publisher=Tomshardware.com |date= 20 February 2022|accessdate=2022-07-18}}</ref>