A link at VoodooExtreme pointed us to this in-depth interview with Rene Froeleke of graphics card maker ATI posted by PC Insight. While this interview does dip into the more arcane aspects of the graphics card business, it does include some interesting details on how ATI thinks the graphics card market will change (or not change) now that it has been reduced to ATI vs NVIDIA in terms of major competition. Here is an excerpt:

PCi - In your opinion, how do you think this 3dfx buyout will change the marketplace? Will cards become more $$$?

RF - I heard that before and I think some customers underestimate their own power. Customers know exactly what they want and how much they are willing to pay for it. The higher the price, the smaller the addressable customer base. No company in the PC graphics business will be able to drive sky-high margins all of a sudden just because one competitor dropped out.

So to answer your question, I don't think this will affect the price policy of any company in this market.

PCi - With Matrox no longer focusing on 3D gaming at the moment and with S3 out of the equation, that only leaves ATi and NVIDIA in the foray. Do you feel that ATi can keep pace with NVIDIA?

RF - I am very confident that we can keep pace. Our Radeon is widely accepted as a high-performing and feature packed graphic chip and we will continue to deliver products that meet the customers demands.

PCi - With NVIDIA now in the Mac-place, how will ATi sustain its marketshare in that arena?

RF - The same way we will sustain our market share in the PC area, we will continue to offer high-performance products for a good value.

PC Insight Talks To ATI

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