Taiwan's Quanta Computer has been chosen to make a 100-dollar laptop computer developed at MIT for distribution to millions of children in developing countries. Nicholas Negroponte, head of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Laboratory and chairman of the "One Laptop Per Child" program, announced Tuesday that Quanta would manufacture the computer.

"Any previous doubt that a very-low-cost laptop could be made for education in the developing world has just gone away," Negroponte said in announcing the deal.

The computers are expected to be available for distribution in the fourth quarter of 2006, the lab said in a statement.

Between five million and 15 million units are expected to be provided to children in China, India, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, Nigeria, and Thailand, and possibly other countries.

The program aims to give children computers for "a window into the world and a tool with which to think."

A prototype of the laptop, far cheaper than any computer for sale commercially, was unveiled last month at the World Summit on the Information Society.

The computers will use the Linux operating system and can be powered by a hand crank. The target price is near 100 dollars, which the program's sponsors hope can be decreased as production ramps up.

A commercial version of the computer "will be explored in parallel," the statement said.

The corporate members of the initiative are Advanced Micro Devices, Brightstar, Google, News Corporation, Nortel and Red Hat.