With Gigabyte and Asus doing both Nvidia and ATI, MSI simply could not resist the temptation to join its big brothers.Source: The Inquirer
Gainward and XFX will remain Nvidia loyalists for the time being, but it's not going to be easy for them as the marketplace re-aligns.
"MSI to partner up with ATi"

It is said that in January 2004 MSI will announce his official partnership with ATi.