Graphics processor developer Nvidia is developing a microprocessor for tablet devices that would compete with Intel's products, reports Bloomberg citing two people familiar with the matter. Nvidia began working on a tablet chip after an earlier effort to create laptop processors didn't pan out, the people said. Those chips weren't cheap enough to compete with Intel's Atom chips, according to the people. It may serve as a counterattack against Intel and AMD, the two makers of computer processors, as they encroach more onto Nvidia's home turf of graphics chips. Tom Beermann, an Intel spokesman, declined to comment. The Nvidia project relies on a technology pioneered by Transmeta that uses software to replicate the way Intel chips work, the people said. Intel owns the X86 instruction set technology, which it licenses the design to AMD but has not granted to Nvidia. Nvidia's latest project may not result in a product, according to the people familiar with the matter.
