3Dfx ditches cards, returns to chips

One of the best known 3D acceleration companies, 3Dfx, is to ditch its card-manufacturing business and return to selling 3D accelerator chips.

The company that brought us the Voodoo range of graphics cards announced Tuesday that it is to close its Mexican graphics card building plant and begin restructuring to return to its chip production business.

The move marks an embarrassing U-turn for 3Dfx. In December 1998 it bought card manufacturer STB Systems. 3Dfx president Greg Ballard claimed that the acquisition would "position 3Dfx as one of the top suppliers of graphics technology in the world".

But the company has struggled against mounting pressure from nVidia with its GeForce range of cards.

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