Billy Wang, vice president for Asia Pacific and China at ATI Technologies, revealed yesterday that the company's new SB600 southbridge chip will be introduced in May. Mr Wang responded to recent speculation that ULi Electronics may no longer provide southbridges for ATI-based motherboard platforms, following its acquisition by ATI-rival Nvidia, the website DigiTimes.com reports from Taiwan.

ULi Electronics, a Taiwan-based microchip developer, had for years enjoyed strong relationships with both Nvidia and ATI by supplying each with important chip technology (Southbridge).

Until the Nvidia-Uli "wedding" last December, ATI used ULi's southbridge microchips -- chips that allow devices such as a mouse, keyboard, drives, sound card and monitor to communicate with a computer.

According to Wang, ATI has completed its new product roadmap for this year, including its new SB600 Southbridge chip, to be manufactured at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).