Intel Corp. Thursday said it has scrapped plan to enter the digital television chip business, marking a major retreat from its push into consumer electronics.
The cancellation, which follows a string of missteps by the world's largest chip maker, could ease competition for Texas Instruments Inc., whose own chips for rear-projection televisions have become a successful enterprise.
"What we've decided is that for the investment that's required and the returns we would get and the timeline to get to those returns, that it doesn't make sense for us to pursue this particular technology," Intel spokesman Bill Calder said.
Nine months ago, Intel had announced plans for an aggressive push beyond the personal computer and into consumer electronics with new chips for big-screen high-definition televisions. The chips used a technology called liquid crystal on silicon, or LCoS.
Intel President Paul Otellini, who is expected to take over as chief executive next year, said at the time that Intel would take advantage of a novel technology for television displays -- combining liquid crystals, a mirror-like surface and a silicon chip -- that would appear in $2,000 televisions.
Intel initially planned to deliver chips to TV makers in the second half of this year. But in August, the first signs of trouble surfaced, as Intel indefinitely postponed the project, saying the company had decided to improve picture quality before introducing the product.