In the past year Intel has gone from being a direct competitor and outspoken critic to the One Laptop per Child Initiative to a key partner. Back in May, the founder of OLPC Nicholas Negroponte lashed out at Intel for trying to kill off the project by creating a competitive laptop called the Intel Classmate. Almost a couple of months later, Intel joined the board of OLPC, and agreed to contribute on future projects with money and knowledge.
Now, according to an article in PC World, it appears that Intel is designing a microprocessor and motherboard combo that could be used in production versions of the XO laptop:
The design, which Intel plans to submit for OLPC's consideration, will be based on either existing mobile chips, such as modified versions of the Celeron M called A100 and A110, or Silverthorne, an upcoming processor designed for small, mobile computers.
No final decision has been made about using Intel processors in future models. The first generation of the machines is still scheduled to start shipping in October running on AMD's 433MHz Geode LX-700, a slow but cheap and power efficient processor, for about $175 each.