Intel to establish software center in Taiwan

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Intel Corp. announced Thursday it will join the Taiwanese government in setting up a Linux software center in Taiwan to help better market locally produced laptops and mobile Internet devices to the world.

The announcement by Intel Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini came after two leading Taiwanese computer makers launched "nettops" and "netbooks," cheap and extremely portable laptops with wireless Internet access capabilities.

Both Taiwan-based Acer Inc. and Asustek Computer have adopted Intel's latest Atom chips in their laptops, ranging from $300-$1000. The products allow their customers to choose between the Linux-based and Microsoft's Windows operating systems. Linux is a freely distributed operating system

Otellini told reporters the software development center is being set up as part of Intel's efforts to help Taiwan maintain its competitive edge in the field.

"The center's engineers will provide training and consulting ... to accelerate the adoption of mobile technologies," he said. "These efforts aim to reduce the time to market for shipping Intel Atom processor- and Moblin-based systems."

Moblin is a Linux-based operating system designed to fit nettops and netbooks.

Otellini said Intel Capital, Intel Corp.'s investing arm, intends to invest 386 million New Taiwan dollars ($11.5 million) in Taiwanese WiMAX technology carrier VMAX, making it the 30th WiMAX technology company in the world to get a financial injection from Intel Capital.

WiMAX — short for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access — expands broadband wireless access over longer distances of up to 30 miles (50 kilometers) and reduces the cost of implementing broadband.

Otellini said its collaboration with Taiwan aims to enhance the competitiveness of Taiwan's WiMAX products on the global stage, in line with its endorsement of the WiMAX technology.

Intel's investment will help VMAX to deploy Taiwan's first nationwide WiMAX fourth generation wireless network, Otellini said.

The VMAX service will be available in Taiwan in the first half of 2009, he said.