Hong Kong-based Culturecom Holdings, which has reported growing sales of its $15-$30 V-Dragon chip, believes that, in conjunction with embedded Linux, it can help replace costly Wintel systems in China.

Currently, Culturecom will target its CPU chip at embedded Linux devices and special-purpose computers, hoping to challenge Wintel in the future. An article in Reuters notes that Culturecom is expecting to sell between 1.5 and 2 million of its IBM-made V-Dragon chips in 2004, with an order for 1 million chips coming from Orient Semiconductor Electronics, which will use them in home entertainment centers. Datang Telecom & Tech Co has ordered 300,000 chips, to be used in special-purpose accounting system computers.

The V-Dragon chip has already been used in the "Peking University e-Learner," an e-book platform used in 1,200 Beijing schools that can store four to eight million Chinese characters on a 16MB flash memory card, the equivalent to "the total text volume of all subjects in one academic year." In the future, however, Culturecom is hoping that the chips will be used in more general-purpose computing devices.