Leading microchip maker Intel Corp will offer online training to help teachers incorporate technology into their lesson plans in a program it estimates is worth $300 million over four years.

Intel made the commitment in conjunction with the Clinton Global Initiative's third annual summit, which requires attendees to commit to philanthropic projects related to areas such as global warming, health, education and poverty.

The company said on Thursday it would work with governments of 15 countries to develop online versions of in-person training courses that it has supported for about seven years. Equivalent commercial training programs would have cost 1.5 million teachers about $300 million over four years, it said.

The new program is part of Intel's annual global investment of more than $100 million in improving education in schools and universities. The company says it contributed more than $1 billion over a decade in cash and in-kind support for teacher training.

In its latest quarterly report, Intel posted a profit of $1.3 billion on revenue of $8.7 billion.

Intel Chairman Craig Barrett, who will announce the program on Thursday, was named to the Clinton Global Initiative's Education Advisory Committee as the first private sector partner in that group, the company said.

More than 4 million teachers have used Intel's traditional in-person training programs for help on a wide range of subjects, from AIDS awareness to finding new sources of drinking water, Intel said.

Because teachers would be able to follow the online program in their own time, Intel said it hopes that many more will be able to use it than the in-person program. It said its conservative estimate was for more than 1.5 million teachers to enroll in the online program.

Intel