Nvidia’s market share in Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) K7 chipsets is rising dramatically, according to Nvidia’s Taiwan agent.

Statistics for June show that of all AMD K7 motherboards shipped, those based on Nvidia’s nForce2 will account for 35% of all shipments, up from 25% in April.

Asustek Computer said that, excluding numbers from its ASRock subsidiary, over 40% of the AMD K7 own-brand motherboards it shipped in June were based on Nvidia’s chipset. The number was even higher for Micro-star International (MSI), at nearly 50%.

Other first-tier motherboard manufacturers are also jumping on the bandwagon. Gigabyte Technology recently launched products based on the nForce2, while Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) admitted to not ruling out developing nForce2 motherboards.

VIA Technologies has countered with the recent introduction of its KT600 chipset. However, it will face competitive pricing from Nvidia, whose single-channel DDR nForce2 costs less than US$20 and dual-channel DDR just above US$20. The KT600 only supports single-channel DDR.

VIA originally hoped to concentrate on AMD’s K8 platform, but due to delays in the K8’s release, VIA was forced to release the KT600 into an already competitive environment.

Source: Digitimes