PC companies and their component suppliers are dividing into two camps - one led by Compaq and Hewlett Packard (HP), and the other by IBM - to create online exchanges to cut the cost of manufacturing PCs.

On Monday, 10 companies joined with Compaq and HP to announce its as yet unnamed exchange. Within hours, IBM rushed out a statement saying it was planning a similar B2B market with nine companies and that an official launch would take place within 30 days.

Read more