Intel Joins Push for Low-Power Chips

Intel is developing a low-power-consuming chip aimed at a new category of mobile Internet devices, or MIDs, which range between a cell phone and laptop in size. The company’s new MID chip, expected out in the second quarter, draws about a tenth of the power used by Intel’s laptop chips, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Intel is a late arrival in the push for super-low-power consumption and will face competition. The chip, which processes instructions one at a time to conserve power, is very small and rectangular rather than the usual square. "I try to keep them in my pocket, but I keep losing them," said one Intel exec. (More Intel stories.)