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Intel invests $500m in Taiwan WiMax network

Reuters

Published: 21 Apr 2008 12:54 BST

Intel said on Monday that it will invest $500m (£252m) in Taiwan over the next five years, with a large amount of the investment targeted at the island's WiMax sector.

The chip giant said there are still technical challenges that need to be solved around the new super-high-speed wireless standard, but that the company has been encouraged by the development of WiMax in the last two years.

"This investment is largely for WiMax," Lil Mohan, managing director of Intel's WiMax programme, told reporters on the sidelines of a news conference.

Mohan added that Intel expects WiMax to be commercially deployed in the second or third quarter this year in the US and that infrastructure in Asia should be ready by between 2009 and 2010.

Late last year, Taiwan's government said it planned to spend $664m in the next few years on WiMax technology, which is seen as a more advanced standard than Wi-Fi, which only works near a transmitter.

WiMax allows anyone with a WiMax-enabled laptop or media device to download songs, movies and business presentations, for example, over distances of up to 30 miles.

"Japan will probably launch the first [WiMax standard in Asia], since they have already invested lots of money," said Mohan. Taiwan and India could follow suit, he said.

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Acer, the world's third-largest laptop vendor, said on Monday that it is planning to launch laptops with WiMax capabilities in June or July this year.

Acer said it will ship a significant amount of notebook PCs with WiMax capabilities, but declined to give shipment forecast.

"WiMax is a good solution for broadband and it is an affordable answer in terms of price and mobility. It's going to be huge in the coming several years," Acer chairman JT Wang told reporters at the same news conference.

"This is also a great opportunity to boost the information-technology industry in Taiwan," added Wang.

Starting from a small base, WiMax is expected to grow much faster than the broader networking industry, with spending forecast to rise at a compounded annual rate of about 150 percent between 2006 and 2008, according to MIC, a top Taiwanese thinktank.

Wireless and WiMax technology product makers in Taiwan include D-Link, ZyXEL and Gemtek Technology.

Other countries in various stages of WiMax network development include South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and Australia.