Intel Capital, the investment arm of semiconductor giant Intel Corp, yesterday said it planned to invest US$11.7 million in local WiMAX license holder Vmax Telecom Co (威邁思) as part of the US chipmaker’s efforts to foster the development of the next-generation mobile technology.
The move indicates that Intel’s overseas investments will not to be curtailed by the spreading economic slowdown.
“WiMAX is a key component of Intel’s strategy to enable the truly mobile Internet,” said Intel chief executive Paul Otellini in Taipei. “Intel Capital’s investment in Vmax positions it to deliver Taiwan’s first fourth-generation (4G) wireless network.”
Intel is scheduled to make the investment by the end of this year, but it did not disclose detailed financial arrangements.
Intel may subscribe to new common shares of Vmax, through which the US chipmaker may obtain a 20 percent stake in the local WiMAX license holder, the Chinese-language <
Vmax is scheduled to start commercial operations in the first half of next year after deploying 1,200 to 1,500 base stations in the northern part of the country.
Vmax, a joint venture between telecom equipment maker Tecom Co (東訊) and mobile carrier Vibo Telecom Inc (威寶電信), won a WiMAX license last summer to offer the service in the north.
“Intel’s participation in Vmax shows that Taiwan has become one of Intel’s most important WiMAX investments around the world,” Vmax chairman Liu Chao-kai (劉兆凱) said.
Intel has invested in 30 WiMAX technology companies and service providers around the world including US telecom operators Sprint Nextel Corp, Clearwire Corp, Packet 1 of Malaysia and UQ Communications of Japan.
In April, Intel said it planned to spend US$500 million during the five-year period ending 2013 on WiMAX products made by Taiwanese manufacturers.
Intel yesterday also inked an agreement with the Ministry of Economic Affairs to jointly establish a Moblin Enabling Center (MEC), which is scheduled to launch next month, to speed up the time to market of Atom-based products.
Moblin is an open source Linux-based software platform and operates in close relation with Intel Atom processor-based mobile Internet Devices (MIDs), netbooks and in-vehicle infotainment systems.
The center will provide training and consulting services to local manufacturers and software developers and hopes to accelerate the adoption of mobile technologies with a strong Moblin-compliant component supply chain, Otellini said.
"With a shared vision to accelerate the mobile industry's momentum, our collaboration with Intel positions Taiwan to further capitalize on opportunities created by the next phase of the Internet," said Economic Minister Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘).
By 2012, WiMAX subscribers are expected to increase to 133 million, Yiin said, citing the forecast by the WiMAX Forum
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
TikTok abounds with viral videos accusing prestigious brands of secretly manufacturing luxury goods in China so they can be sold at cut prices. However, while these “revelations” are spurious, behind them lurks a well-oiled machine for selling counterfeit goods that is making the most of the confusion surrounding trade tariffs. Chinese content creators who portray themselves as workers or subcontractors in the luxury goods business claim that Beijing has lifted confidentiality clauses on local subcontractors as a way to respond to the huge hike in customs duties imposed on China by US President Donald Trump. They say this Chinese decision, of which Agence
RSS