There is exactly one 800-pound gorilla in the CPU arena, and that’s Intel. But the company, which controls about 80% of the global CPU market, is soon getting some serious competition from Japan. A pool of Japanese companies has decided to team up and produce a made-in-Japan CPU that’s supposed to rival Intel’s products.

The CPU will be jointly developed by Fujitsu, Renesas, NEC, Canon, Panasonic, Hitachi and other companies from Japan. It will be used in a range of consumer electronics, servers, robots and cars and it’s “green”. The CPU adopts itself dynamically to the amount of data being processed, resulting in energy savings of up to 30% when compared to the power consumed at normal times.

Initially, each company is supposed to contribute a CPU on its own, aiming at a final model that’s supposed to run on solar cells. The new CPU and the corresponding software are supposed to constitute a industry-wide standard that will be positioned against Intel.

The Japanese companies expect the new format to be in place by the end of fiscal 2012. Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is ready to help with $33-43 million in financial support.

Via Nikkei [registration required, paid subscription]