Founded in '91 by Alex Wong, K Y Chan and Joe Keirouz, all former Everex engineers, HiNT isn't exactly a startup. However the company caught our fancy due to its achievements and recent product directions. HiNT is self-funded and has only 8 employees, quite remarkable when you consider what the company has accomplished.

In the past HiNT has developed EISA/VESA/ISA chipsets for PC motherboards. In Sept. '97 HiNT introduced the CS8011/CS8012 (North Bridge/South Bridge) Pentium chipset, targeted at entry level and embedded systems. The company is shipping over 300Ku/mth and broke the one million unit mark in Jan. HiNT claims that its chipset has the lowest cost, approx. $12 @ 50ku/mth. Interestingly, the chipset is private-labeled; i.e. the HiNT logo does not appear on the chipset. In Q2, the CS8061 Pentium Pro AGP Host / PCI North Bridge will be introduced which has a 100MHz host interface, 100 MHz 128-bit SDRAM interface, 100 MHz AGP interface and a 100 MHz, 64-bit PCI interface. A new Pentium chipset will be introduced soon, which features a 32Kx8 built-in tag, support for a 100MHz bus, Ultra DMA IDE, USB and SDRAM.

The HC1A PCI master ISDN data link controller has passed Euro ISDN qualifications and is in production. The device forms the heart of a low cost, PnP, passive PCI ISDN adapter card. A complete ISDN adapter only requires the addition of a S/T or U transceiver and an optional EEPROM. Volume pricing is approx. $12.50 each. Up to 4 devices can be cascaded to support up to 8 B channels and 4 D channels on a single board without needing a PCI-to-PCI bridge.

The HX121and HX122 PCI-to-PCI switch ICs will sample in Feb. '98. The devices have one primary interface and 2 secondary interfaces and are equivalent to 3 PCI-to-PCI bridges on a single chip. The devices enable higher system throughput by distributing PCI traffic and allowing concurrent communication amongst the 3 interfaces. Target applications include datacom/telcom systems and servers. Each PCI chip allows designers to add up to 16 devices on 2 independent buses. The devices support posted writes, live insertion and 32-bit I/O. Other features include built-in analog PLLs for internal clocks, phase-locked output clocks for secondary buses and filtering of local PCI traffic. The HX121 features 8 bus-masters and 4 phase-lock output clocks while the HX122 features 16 bus-masters, 8 phase-locked output clocks, a JTAG interface and boundary scan support. A 100 MHz, 64-bit PCI-to-PCI switch, the HX612, will be introduced in Q3. The PCI switches have already been well received by companies such as IBM, Compaq and Cisco.

Foundries include TSMC, Chartered and Hyundai. Other than an existing rep. in Taiwan, HiNT has no interest in establishing a traditional sales channel. The company believes that its market is very focused and that it can pursue customers directly thorough its direct marketing and sales efforts and the Internet. Although we'd have to agree for its PC chipset products, we feel that the non-PC products lend themselves to a broader sales channel. In addition to std. IC products, HiNT provides design and consulting services in areas where it can leverage its expertise.

Alex Wong, president
Ronen Haim, mktg. & sales mgr.