Via Technologies, a Taiwanese manufacturer of integrated electronics has announced motherboard form factors that will pave the way for massively powerful devices in small sizes. The business card sized Mobile ITX product, which was announced at the Computex Exhibition in Taipei, measures 7.5 cm by 4.5 cm, and it comes bundled with a processor, integrated graphics, and memory.

Excerpt from article courtesy PC World| IDG News Service:

The new motherboard design, which should hit markets next year, will make possible a range of small, powerful computers, such as “super smartphones,” said Richard Brown, Via’s president of corporate marketing, in an interview. Key to the motherboard’s success is the C7 processor. Brown didn’t specify which version the board will use, but said the chip consumes 0.25 watts of power or less when running. “And that’s not when the system is idling,” he said.

More links:

Via CEO promises even smaller motherboards (InfoWorld | IDG News Service)

Via in talk with PC vendors to make new devices (Reuters)

Photos: Via’s little motherboards (TechRepublic)

Via, though lacking in scale to AMD or Intel, has always been in the forefront of innovation, touting the need for low-power consuming chips when the chip leaders were embroiled in clock speed wars. So, what does this new innovation mean? Ultra mobile PCs with immense computing power, incredible displays, and perhaps the best of mobile PCs is yet to arrive. With on-the-move computing emerging more as a norm, can the reduced form factors pack enough punch? Join the discussion.