ATI Strikes Deal with Nintendo

Graphics chip maker ATI Technologies Inc. said on Tuesday it has entered a technology development deal with video-game maker Nintendo Company Ltd.

ATI did not disclose any other details on the agreement to develop technology for use in Nintendo products.

Markham, Ontario-based ATI already supplies hardware and software, including the custom-designed ATI/Nintendo "Flipper" chip, for the Nintendo GameCube game console. That earned ATI royalties of $14 million in the first quarter.

ATI said at a technology conference last month that it was looking at pursuing deals for future versions of the Nintendo GameCube console.

ATI stock climbed 5 percent on NASDAQ to $4.17 and 3.7 percent on the Toronto Stock Exchange to $6.11 (Canadian) a share. ($1=$1.48 Canadian)

Just last week, ATI announced plans to release its most-advanced PC chip yet within the next month or so.

The R350 chip will be the high-end successor to ATI's Radeon 9700 chip. The new chip will be built using 130 nanometer technology, or .13 micron, which is a reference to the size of the feature sets on the chips. The .13 micron technology promises better speeds and lower costs than past standards, such as .15 micron.



Sounds to me like Nintendo is gonna have some great software to work with on the next system with this company being able to make these small and fast parts.