Published in PC Hardware

Intel aligns itself with Beijing

by on14 October 2014



Taking on Qualcomm

Intel's decision to invest in Chinese chipmakers could alight the company with China's government in the long term.

Last month Intel bought a 20 percent stake in Spreadtrum Communications and RDA Microelectronics though Tsinghua Unigroup, a government affiliated private entity. Intel hopes to market and develop smartphone processors with the Chinese firms.

This is not Intel's first alliance with a Chinese chipmaker. Back in May, the company struck a deal with Rockchip and the two companies will jointly develop and market x86 tablet chips. Reuters reports Intel's latest investments are just what Beijing is looking for. The government has been trying to prop up domestic chipmakers for years and the approach is finally working.

Nomura analyst Leping Huang said the policy has reached an "inflection point" and it is starting to help the local semiconductor industry.

It is believed Beijing wants to make Unigroup companies more competitive and capable of taking on MediaTek, Taiwan's biggest supplier of mobile processors. The ambitious plan reportedly sees Unigroup chipmakers overtaking MediaTek in five years. What's more, the hope is to overtake Qualcomm within ten years.

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