ATI Technologies chairman K.Y. Ho, one of six people accused of illegal insider trading of the computer graphics company's stock, plans to sell as much as 40 per cent of his holding.

Ho, who according to ATI's latest proxy circular owned 4.7 million of ATI's 244.5 million shares, intends to sell the stock by June 30, the company said Tuesday.

At Monday's closing price for stock in the graphics microprocessor maker, Ho's holding was worth $102.5 million.

The sale of "up to approximately" two-fifths of that will be conducted "in a systematic manner with the goal of minimizing market impact," ATI said.

"Mr. Ho has advised that he intends to implement the trading plan in order to achieve investment planning and diversification objectives."

Ho, his wife and four other individuals were accused of illegal insider trading by the Ontario Securities Commission in early 2003. A twice-postponed hearing is to begin March 29 into stock transactions before ATI surprised the market in early 2000 by disclosing it would not meet growth expectations.

The OSC also alleges the company failed to disclose material information on a timely basis and made a misleading statement to commission staff.

ATI also announced Tuesday that "the vast majority" of digital-cable-ready high-definition televisions are using its NXT2003 microprocessor, "the industry's first single-chip off-air DTV and unidirectional cable receiver."

It said the chip is in the products of nine of 11 consumer electronic companies that have announced digital-cable-ready HDTV sets: Panasonic, Samsung, Toshiba, Hitachi, Sony, Mitsubishi, Thomson, Sharp "and another major manufacturer yet to be announced."

A DCR TV can be plugged directly into the cable system to receive analogue and most digital services, using a card supplied by the cable company instead of a separate set-top box.


Source : CNews