Via plans 1.2GHz chip

Chipset maker Via Technologies says it plans to launch a PC processor running at 1.2GHz by the end of 2001. Via will continue to aim its chips at the low end of the market, particularly in developing countries like China, Brazil, India and Mexico, according to the company. Via's current top-of-the-line chip, the Samuel 2, runs at 733MHz. By the third quarter of this year it plans to release a more advanced chip, code-named Ezra, based on the more advanced 0.13-micron manufacturing process. Staff writer Matthew Broersma reported from England.