Via has a Pentium 4-based chip set waiting in the wings, but the Taiwan company cannot legally sell the product without a license from Intel. The product from Via reportedly supports both SDRAM and double-data-rate (DDR) SDRAM memory.

For some time, the Taiwanese company and Intel have been wrestling over the terms of the licensing deal, sources said. Intel is asking for hefty licensing fees from Via, sources said.

But Via has argued that its merger with the graphics-IC business of S3 Inc. included rights to Pentium 4 chip set technology. Previously, S3 and Intel signed a cross-licensing deal that included Pentium technology.

Via is the only chip set maker in Taiwan without a license. Recently, Intel granted Pentium 4-compatible chip set licenses to two other Taiwan chip set makers--Acer Laboratories Inc. and Silicon Integrated Systems Inc.

Intel has also granted a license to multimedia chip set supplier ATI Technologies Inc. of Markham, Ontario, Canada.