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As cars get greener, they're also getting smarter. Chip companies like Freescale are hoping to build the brains and sensors to enable them.

Take a look at how many semiconductors go into the different types of vehicles on or headed for market — conventional gas-powered cars, hybrids and electric vehicles — and a simple fact about the transition to lower-emission vehicles becomes clear: As our cars get greener, they'll be using more chips. The trend offers a business opportunity for chipmakers who want to get out ahead of the curve. As Steve Nelson, manager of global automotive marketing for Freescale, put it in a recent interview, "The key to green is going to be electronics."