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Fujitsu mulls foray into WiMAX market

Major Japanese computer maker Fujitsu Ltd said yesterday it was in talks with the Taiwanese government on joining hands in the field of next-generation wireless communications.

"It is true that we are having talks with the Taiwanese authorities," a Fujitsu spokesman said after a news report that the company will develop a microchip with Taiwan for WiMAX broadband communications technology.

"The talks are about WiMAX but we cannot disclose further details, [such as] whether we are aiming at a semiconductor or something else," said the official, who declined to be named.

The Nikkei Shimbun economic daily reported yesterday that Fujitsu had reached a basic accord with Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs to jointly develop the WiMAX chip, with a deal set to be made public as early as next week.

They plan to put up funds worth tens of millions of dollars to set up a research center in Taiwan, the Nikkei said without identifying its sources.

The chip will probably be manufactured at a Fujitsu factory in Japan and supplied to Taiwanese manufacturers of information-technology devices, the newspaper said.

US giant Intel is also in the race to develop WiMAX chips, which are expected to be used widely in computers and cellphones to enable streaming of high-quality video images even on the move.
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