Taiwan's MSI is developing an e-book reader, its chairman, Joseph Hsu, has apparently revealed.

The unit will be based on Nvidia's Tegra ARM-based system-on-a-chip, but that's ultimately irrelevant to its role - unless, of course, MSI plans to pitch the device as an all-round large-format media player along the lines of Apple's eagerly anticipated iPad.

According to Hsu, the company will say no more until some time during H1 2010 - presumably when the device will be formally unveiled.

Hsu's comments, reported by DigiTimes, are accompanied by a statement from Gigabyte that it's not making an e-book reader.

Gigabyte and MSI's fellow Taiwan-based manufacturer, Asus, has already said it's working on an e-book reader which we'd like to see go on sale for under £100, a wish that, when we expressed it before, prompted world+dog to believe that that is exactly what Asus will do. Influential, we've heard of it. ®