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Intel Expected to Make Chips for Digital TVs

Yahoo! News:

Intel wants to get inside your television. The world's largest microchip maker will soon unveil plans to make chips for digital televisions, opening a fast-growing market to a company that dominates the computer chip business, an industry executive familiar with the plans said on Wednesday.

The entry of Santa Clara, California-based Intel Corp. would pose a serious threat to established consumer electronics companies in Europe and Japan, such as Philips and Sony Corp, as well as emerging players like Texas Instruments Inc.. analysts said.

Chris Chinnock, senior researcher at Insight Media, which publishes an electronics display newsletter, said Intel's arrival would underline the contrast in the television market between consumer electronics companies -- which have enjoyed relatively high margins and slower product turnover cycles -- and computer companies, which operate on razor-thin margins and regular product updates.

PC makers Gateway Inc. and Dell Inc. have already shaken up television sales with lower-cost liquid crystal-based sets, he said.