In Cheap-Chip Market, It's Intel vs. Via

As Intel dives into the growing low-cost laptop chip market, it’s battling a new competitor: Taiwan’s Via Technologies, a far smaller company than Intel. Via’s low-power C7 chip had enjoyed its own niche in the market, but that’s changing as Intel rolls out the Atom chip, PC World reports.

Meanwhile, Via is planning a new cheap chip it believes is more powerful than the Atom. The Taiwanese company is happy to face Intel’s competition. “Maybe they'll take some of our business, maybe they won't. But they will increase the size of that (low-cost chip) business,” meaning more opportunities for Via, says the head of a Via subsidiary. (More computer chip stories.)