Times are a-changin' over at ATI. Late last month , the company announced that it would actively look for OEMs to make products based on its chips. About a week later, ATI let us know that that Acer-DMS would be its first partner its new strategy. Today, ATI informed us that no less than five other companies have signed on to manufacture and distribute products based on ATI chip. The latest companies to enter into relationships with ATI include DFI, FIC, Gigabyte, Lite-On Technology, and USI. ATI says it plans to announce additional manufacturing and distribution relationships in the future. The company is offering the full range of its graphics products to participating companies, along with reference designs, software and technical support. ATI's battle with Nvidia continues. In case you missed Omid's story a few weeks back discussing ATI's future , it's worth a read. ATI isn't terribly far behind Nvidia technologically, and this new strategy could give them better market penetration. The question is, why didn't they start farming out board production sooner?