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
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