Intel Eyes Big Market for Atom

FRANKFURT, June 2 (Reuters) - Intel, the world's biggest chipmaker, sees new markets for its Atom microprocessors worth a total of $40 billion in two or three years' time, its chief executive told the Financial Times.

Intel is rolling out five new Atom microprocessors and a collection of chips designed for portable gadgets that access the Internet and for other uses, as it uses its marketing muscle to help create a new market.

In comments to the FT published on Monday, Paul Otellini said the growing resemblance of high-end smart mobile phones to computers put Intel in a good position.

"If you accept that the value proposition of the high end of the mobile phone market is full Internet access that happens to have voice, my view is that it's easier to add voice to a small computer than vice-versa," he said.

Otellini said he also expected the new Atom processors to start appearing in consumer electronic devices such as TVs, ultra-low-cost "netbook" mobile PCs, and as embedded processors in a wide range of other products.

"Each of these four markets is a $10 billion opportunity by 2010 or 2011," he said.

Intel, whose processors are found in four out of every five personal computers sold worldwide, made sales of $38 billion last year.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan, editing by Will Waterman)

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