Intel drops out of One Laptop Per Child program

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Intel (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Thursday it will drop out of the One Laptop Per Child project and resign from the board after the project's board demanded the chipmaker stop supporting other efforts in emerging markets.

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), a nonprofit project run by MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte, aimed to sell $100 laptops to the world's poor children.

But it began selling in October for $200 through a donor program to finance the program's launch.

The OLPC board "had asked Intel to end its support for non-OLPC platforms including the Classmate PC and other systems," Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said. "They wanted us to focus our support exclusively on the OLPC system."

A representative for the OLPC project was not immediately reachable.

Mulloy said Intel decided to drop out after six months of discussion.

Intel last year introduced the Classmate, a laptop for developing markets. It is likely to have other projects this year.

"We've always said there will be many solutions. The most important priority is to serve the need," he said

(Reporting by Kenneth Li; Editing by Gary Hill)