Intel plans to develop new microchip for televisions

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) Intel Corp. plans to develop a chip that could lead to slimmer and cheaper rear-projection TVs.

The move would fall in line with the computer industry’s growing attraction to the consumer electronics market, where digital television sales are soaring and profit margins are still healthy but thinning as competition increases.

A spokesman for Intel, the leading maker of computer microprocessors, would not comment Wednesday, citing company policy to not discuss unannounced technologies.

But news of the tech giant’s plans, which Intel president and chief operating officer Paul Otelliniare is expected to disclose at next month’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, is already creating a stir among industry analysts.

With its research and development heft, analysts say Intel could do for big-screen TVs what it did for personal computers: improve quality and substantially lower prices.

The technology Intel has been eyeing is known as liquid crystal on silicon, or LCoS. A few companies already have tried to introduce LCos products, but they haven’t made any deep inroads in the market.

LCoS technology competes against other new display technologies that have already invigorated the rear-projection TV market, most notably the digital light processing (DLP) chip pioneered by Texas Instruments.

The DLP chip uses nearly a million microscopic mirrors that tilt and reflect light to create an image. DLP technology has led to models slimmer and lighter than the traditional bulky big-screen TVs, but remain relatively expensive. For instance, a Samsung 43- inch DLP high-definition TV is 68 pounds, 15.7 inches deep.