ATI Technologies

ATI Technologies Inc. (where ATI is an acronym for Array Technology Industry) is a Canadian manufacturer of graphics cards, graphics chips and graphics processing units for personal computers. Founded in 1985, their main headquarters is located in Markham, Ontario.

Founded by three Hong Kong immigrants, K.Y. Ho, Benny Lau and Lee Lau, it began as an OEM, producing integrated graphics chips for large PC manufacturers like IBM. However, by 1987 it had evolved into an independent graphics card retailer, marketing the EGA Wonder and VGA Wonder graphics cards under its own ATI moniker.

In addition to developing high-end GPU's (graphics processing unit, something ATI themselves call VPU for visual processing unit) for PCs, ATI also designs "lite" embedded versions for laptops (called "Mobility Radeon"), PDAs ("Imageon"), integrated motherboards ("Radeon IGP"), set-top boxes ("Xilleon") and other technology-based market segments. Thanks to this diverse portfolio, ATI has been traditionally the dominant player in the OEM and multimedia markets.

In 2000, ATI acquired the company ArtX that engineered the graphics chip "Flipper" used in Nintendo GameCube. They have also entered an agreement with Nintendo to create the chip for the next generation of GameCube. ATI was contracted by Microsoft to create the graphics chip for Microsoft Xbox 2.

Its current President and CEO is David E. Orton (formerly of ArtX). K.Y. Ho remains as Chairman.

Currently it is the main competitor of nVidia, who also produces graphics cards. As of 2004, ATI's flagship product line is the Radeon series of graphics cards which directly compete with nVidia's GeForce graphics cards.

Market Trends

For the past several years the GPU market has largely followed a pattern whereby ATI releases a new product and controls the performance market but only for a short period of time. nVidia (or ATI depending on who releases what first) then releases its counter product and thereupon controls the performance market for yet another short period of time, ad infinitum.

In 2002, ATI refocused on the consumer gaming market with the introduction of the Radeon 9700, the introduction of their branded "Catalyst" driver suite, and the licensing out of their core chip technology to third-party "Powered by ATI" board manufacturers.

In 2003, ATI launched a program called "get in the game" to help game developers optimize their applications for ATI's hardware. NVIDIA's version is called "the way it's meant to be played".

Products of Interest

• Mach64 - Introduced in 1994, one of the first chips capable of smooth playback of MPEG movies without requiring an extra MPEG card. Later evolved into the 3D RAGE and 3D RAGE II, which included rudimentary 3D capabilities.
• Rage Pro - While poor 3D drivers made it lacklustre in gaming when it was launched in 1997, its low cost, 2D image quality and DVD performance made it a bestseller to OEMs, and its successors, the Rage 128 and Rage XL video chips, are still available in some machines. This was the first ATI chip to include a triangle setup engine, making it possible to support OpenGL in hardware.
• Rage Fury MAXX - Launched 1999. ATI's first and last foray into videocards with twin Rage 128 Pro processors, it was plagued with driver issues and lukewarm performance. Discontinued.
• All-In-Wonder - Launched in 1994 and unique to ATI, this multimedia video model line offers TV tuning, MPEG/DVD acceleration, and 3D gaming on a single card. Several models also include features such as HDTV encoding and digital TV tuning.
• Radeon - Launched 2000. Current mainstream 3D gaming consumer card, ranges from models 7000 to 9800, and X800.
• Radeon 9700 - Launched in 2002, it is widely regarded one of the most astonishing pieces of videocard engineering in recent memory. Notable wins included highly efficient and visually appealing anti-aliasing and anistropic filtering algorithms, full DirectX 9 compliance, as well as performance figures sometimes double of its competitors. The 9700 can be seen as ATI's turning point within the 3D gaming market from underdog to serious competitor.
• FireGL - Launched in 2001, following ATI's acquisition of FireGL Graphics. Workstation CAD/CAM video card, based on the Radeon series.
• Imageon - Introduced in 2002 to bring integrated 3D graphics to handhelds, cellphones, and Tablet PCs.

ATI's current mainstream product is the Radeon. The ATI Radeon "R300" series (models 9500 to 9800) are designed to compete with the GeForce FX made by nVidia. In 2004, a new addition to the line was released - the Radeon X Series - which are designed to compete with nVidia's GeForce 6 Series.

Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) symbol: ATY

NASDAQ Stock Exchange (NASDAQ) symbol: ATYT