Is VIA in trouble? According to Digitimes, they are having some retention issues – with a VP of the company looking to jump ship and take a significant amount of the staff wuth him to join with another company. It seems that Chewei Lin is looking to resign his post, taking 40 technicians from VIA's research team to join ASMedia Technology, which is part of Asustek.

VIA is denying this – or, at least, not offering any information, saying they've not heard of these plans. It wouldn't be a surprise, but it would be very bad news for the company who is already facing much tougher competition from larger chip manufacturers. I'd hate to see them crumble – though a small company, relatively, they have produced a lot of very cool stuff over the years, such as the infamous EPIA series boards which have spawned cults of dedicated followers.

The reasons cited by Digitimes for Lin's potential departure were increased pressure from companies like Intel and AMD, along with an “uncertain” future from VIA. I'd like to hear more from the company besides “We've not heard of anything”, so hopefully they will open up soon.