A report claimed that chip firm Via will use Taiwanese foundry TSMC to build dual core 45 nanometre Nano chips in the second half of 2009.

According to the Taiwan Economic News, Via chairman Wenchi Chen has claimed that Dell, Sony, Acer, Toshiba and Sony are interested in using the Nano chip in future designs. Via faces competition from Intel's 'Atom' processor for use in personal information devices (PIDs) and 'net tops', nothing to do with suspender belts.

Via has refused to comment in detail about the report, but a representative told the newspaper that it wouldn't rule out using other foundry manufacturers for its processors in the future.

Via has used TSMC to build its chips and chipsets before, and has also had a dalliance with IBM Microelectronics. TSMC is a so-called pure play foundry, which means it uses its manufactories to create chips according to designs supplied by its customers. X

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Taiwan Economic News