Blaming differences with Nicolas Negroponte, the founder of the One Laptop Per Child program, Intel has announced that it was leaving the program that is aimed to distribute low- cost laptops to children in the third world.

The chip-making giant declared that its decision came because Negroponte has asked it to quit selling a competing low-cost computer, The Classmate. In addition, Intel said that the OLPC founder has asked it to stop supplying other laptops that are sold to children in developing countries.

While the OLPC computer now uses a microprocessor from Intel's main competitor, Advanced Micro Devices, a new Intel chip version was expected to be unveiled next week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

"We've reached a philosophical impasse with OLPC," Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy declared for the Wall Street Journal, adding that the company is unable to fulfill Negroponte’s requests.

Mulloy said that the Classmate is just another solution for the developing countries, which should have more choices than only the OLPC laptop. Moreover, Intel cannot stop selling its own designed laptop because that would deteriorate Intel's relationships with overseas manufacturers and suppliers.

While thousands of Classmates have been sold, OLPC was aiming to sell as many as 150 million of its own laptop until the end of the current year, but the goal might be rather difficult to reach, due to the higher than announced price and OLPC’s failure to drag governments’ interest.