China won't back down on a plan to force computer makers to adopt a new standard for encrypting wireless communications after Intel Corp said it will halt sales of its Centrino chip package in the nation.
Intel, the world's biggest chipmaker, will stop sales of the wireless communication device after balking at government demands for alterations before June 1. A quarter of all laptops sold in China last year used the chip, including those made by Legend Group Ltd, the country's largest personal computer maker.
"The government's position is unequivocal," said Wang Xilin, deputy director of the Standardization Administration of China, a unit of China's Cabinet, in a phone interview from Beijing. "June 1 is the deadline. That's not going to change."
Intel spent US$300 million promoting its Centrino chip package last year as the company tried to tap demand for laptops. The US government last week wrote a letter of complaint arguing China's December ruling is an unfair barrier to sales in the world's second-biggest personal computer.
Intel has been unable to produce a technical solution that uses the Chinese standards and works as well as the existing product, said Chuck Mulloy, a spokesman for the Santa Clara, California-based company.
Under the rule, overseas makers of computers and chips trying to sell devices in China that allow wireless communication must use a Chinese encryption software and make the products with designated mainland companies.
"There is a likelihood consumers will delay laptop computer purchases in China because top-of-the-line technology may not be available for a while," said Kitty Fok, a Hong Kong-based analyst at market researcher IDC.
In China, notebook computer sales will rise by half to 2.6 million units, or by 40 percent to US$3.5 billion this year, according to IDC. About 26 percent of all laptop computers sold in the country last year used the Centrino chip, IDC's Fok said.
Texas Instruments Inc, the largest maker of chips for cell phones, is also making chips that don't conform to the new Chinese standard and wants the rules changed, said Sharon Hampton, a spokeswoman for the Dallas, Texas-based company. The rule also affects imports of other devices including mobile phones personal digital assistants, scanners and network cards.
China is developing its own standards for video compression, digital television signals, and high-speed mobile-phone networks, as the government seeks to encourage domestic manufacturers to expand.
Consumers and businesses are choosing laptops over desktop PCs, and demand for notebooks with so-called wireless-fidelity, or Wi-Fi, Internet access is rising. Laptop sales will grow 25 percent this year compared with an estimated 6.5 percent growth in desktops, according to a January forecast by UBS.
Intel doesn't detail sales to China. The Asia-Pacific region accounted for 40 percent of the chipmaker's fourth-quarter revenue.
Intel will still be able to sell the main processor in the package, the Pentium M, Mulloy said. Intel is continuing talks with the Chinese authorities, he said.
"Intel will probably try to push harder for sale of Pentium M in China," Fok said.
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
China on Wednesday teased in a video an aircraft carrier that could be its fourth, and the first using nuclear power, while making an allusion to Taiwan and vowing to further build up its islands, as it looks to boost maritime power, secure resources and bolster territorial claims. The video, issued on the eve of the 77th founding anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, featured fictional officers with names that are homophones of three commissioned aircraft carriers, the Liaoning (遼寧), Shandong (山東) and Fujian (福建). Titled Into the Deep, it showed a 19-year-old named “Hejian” (何劍) joining the group, sparking
BIG YEAR: The company said it would also release its A12 chip the same year to keep a ‘reliable stream of new silicon technologies’ flowing to its customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said its newest A13 chip is to enter volume production in 2029 as the chipmaker seeks to hold onto its tech leadership and demand for next-generation chips used in artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance-computing (HPC) and mobile applications. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, also unveiled its A12 chip at its annual technology symposium in Santa Clara, California. The A12 chip, which features TSMC’s super-power-rail technology to provide backside power delivery for AI and HPC applications, is also to enter volume production in 2029, a year after the scheduled release of the A14 chip. The technology moves
RSS