Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Intel Corp., seeking a new round of growth by pushing into home-entertainment devices, will sell chips to Toshiba Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. for televisions with Internet features.

A new chip called the Media Processor CE 3100 will appear in TVs and set-top boxes, letting users access an online entertainment program called the Widget Channel, Intel said today at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The company developed the software with Yahoo! Inc.

Intel, which relies on computers for more than 90 percent of its revenue, is counting on TV equipment to add a new source of sales. The effort differs from an earlier push to get PCs into more consumers’ living rooms. This time around, Intel wants to bring computing and Internet functions directly to TVs, letting viewers shop online, track stocks and connect with friends.

Toshiba, which is developing liquid-crystal-display TVs with the chips, will bring the new products to the U.S. by the second half of this year, Intel said. Samsung is putting the chips into set-top boxes.

In addition to providing Internet content, the Widget Channel can add features to Blu-ray movie discs, letting viewers access film trailers and cast information online. Those functions could create opportunities for advertising and e-commerce, Intel said.

Yahoo’s Strategy

Yahoo aims to reach new users with the Widget Channel, helping it catch up with Google Inc., the top seller of online advertising. Yahoo ranks a distant second to Google in Internet searches, the most lucrative source of Web ads.

Intel, based in Santa Clara, California, added 11 cents to $14.55 on the Nasdaq Stock Market at 4 p.m. New York time. The shares dropped 45 percent last year.

The Consumer Electronics Show, the industry’s biggest conference, comes to Las Vegas every January. Companies will introduce about 20,000 products at this week’s event, estimates the Consumer Electronics Association, which runs the show.

Intel tried to tackle the home-entertainment market four years ago, developing technology called Viiv that let computers connect to televisions. That idea failed to catch on.

With its new strategy, Intel faces competition from established companies such as Broadcom Corp. Intel’s product will cost about $30, as much as three times the price of rival offerings, Christopher Danely, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in San Francisco, said before the announcement.

Intel’s digital home group began in 2005 as an attempt by Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini to break the company’s reliance on computers. Like Intel’s efforts in mobile phones and medical equipment, the business hasn’t had much of an impact on revenue.

PC shipment growth will slow to 3.8 percent in 2009, and falling prices will push the total value of those computers down 5.3 percent, Framingham, Massachusetts-based IDC said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ian King in San Francisco at ianking@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 8, 2009 16:21 EST