ArtX was a

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. Its conductivity can be modified by adding impurities (" doping") to its crystal structure. When two regions with different doping level ...

design company founded in 1997 by a group of 20 former

Silicon Graphics Silicon Graphics, Inc. (stylized as SiliconGraphics before 1999, later rebranded SGI, historically known as Silicon Graphics Computer Systems or SGCS) was an American high-performance computing manufacturer, producing computer hardware and soft ...

employees, led by executives Wei Yen and David Orton. The company initially sought to develop a high-performance, cost-effective graphics chip for the

IBM PC compatible An IBM PC compatible is any personal computer that is hardware- and software-compatible with the IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC) and its subsequent models. Like the original IBM PC, an IBM PC–compatible computer uses an x86-based central p ...

market, competing with established firms such as

3dfx 3dfx Interactive, Inc. was an American computer hardware company headquartered in San Jose, California, founded in 1994, that specialized in the manufacturing of 3D graphics processing units, and later, video cards. It was a pioneer in the f ...

and emerging competitors like

Nvidia Nvidia Corporation ( ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and incorporated in Delaware. Founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang (president and CEO), Chris Malachowsky, and Curti ...

. ArtX became better known for designing the ''Flipper'' graphics chip used in

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...

console. The company was acquired by

ATI Technologies ATI Technologies Inc. was a Canadian semiconductor industry, semiconductor technology corporation based in Markham, Ontario, that specialized in the development of graphics processing units and chipsets. Founded in 1985, the company listed pub ...

in 2000, and its work formed the basis for ATI's

Radeon Radeon () is a brand of computer products, including graphics processing units, random-access memory, RAM disk software, and solid-state drives, produced by Radeon Technologies Group, a division of AMD. The brand was launched in 2000 by ATI Tech ...

line of GPUs, which continued under

AMD Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California and maintains significant operations in Austin, Texas. AMD is a hardware and fabless company that de ...

following its acquisition of ATI in 2006.

History

In late 1997,

filed a non-compete lawsuit against ArtX, alleging that the company's staff would make use of proprietary trade secrets. The lawsuit was quietly dropped in 1998. In May 1998, ArtX was contracted by

to develop the system logic and graphics processor, named '' Flipper'', for its next-generation game console, then known by the codename "Dolphin", and later renamed the

ahead of its release in 2001. At the time,

Nintendo of America is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi founded the company to p ...

chairman Howard Lincoln described ArtX as being led by "Dr. Wei Yen, the man who was primarily responsible for the N64 graphics chip", and praised the team as "one of the best teams of 3D graphics engineers on the planet." ArtX publicly demonstrated its first integrated graphics chipset, which included a built-in geometry engine, at COMDEX in the fall of 1999. The chipset was incorporated into the Aladdin 7 northbridge sold by Taiwan-based ALi. In February 2000, ArtX was acquired by

for $400 million in stock. An ATI spokesperson stated, "ATI now becomes a major supplier to the game console market via Nintendo. The ameCubeplatform is reputed to be king of the hill in terms of graphics and video performance with 128-bit architecture." ArtX's work would also lay the foundation for ATI's R300 graphics processor (released in 2002 as the Radeon 9700), which became the basis for its consumer and professional GPUs over the following years.

References

External links

* {{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991011033637/http://www.artxinc.com/, title=Official website, date=October 11, 1999 American companies established in 1997 American companies disestablished in 2000 Computer companies established in 1997 Computer companies disestablished in 2000 Defunct computer hardware companies Defunct computer companies of the United States Graphics hardware companies