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Via Technologies of Taipei has managed to carve out a niche of energy-efficient microprocessors, but now will have to go head to head with Intel Corp's latest offering of the same vein. Via, run by entrepreneurs Cher Wang and Wenchi Chen, produces processors that extend the battery life of laptop PCs such as the Hewlett-Packard Mini as well as no-name PCs used overseas that can serve as the 'mainframe computer' for poor communities. Via had its beginnings with IBM scientist Glenn Henry, who wished to produce a cheap, simple microprocessor. He started Centaur Technology with the help of Integrated Device Technology, but the startup went up for sale in 1999 and was then bought by Via. Via's first energy efficient processor, the C3, was built in 2001 but had a very small market. Its second offering, the C7, was used in the HP Mini and proved to be more energy-efficient and cheaper than any of the low-end processors being built by Intel and AMD. The success of Via's family of microprocessors has spurred Intel to make their own, and Intel is about to release the Atom, a microprocessor designed to draw from two to four watts of electricity. The market for simple and affordable Internet machines is growing, and Intel's presence validates the microprocessor niche. Whether it stomps out Via, or carries it along, remains to be seen.
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