Sean Maloney, a well-known executive vice president at Intel (INTC.NYSE), will move to China to assume the new position of chairman for Intel China, Bloomberg reported. The new position is widely seen as a signal of Intel’s focus on the China market, which it says will become the world’s biggest personal computer market in 2012. “It’s an unprecedented move for Intel to place one of our senior executives in China,” said company spokesman Chuck Mulloy. “It underscores the importance of that market going forward.” The Asia Pacific region contributed about 56% of Intel’s revenue in the first quarter of 2011. The firm manufactures chips for about 80% of computers globally. Maloney is one the best-known executives at the firm, and is tipped as a possible successor to CEO Paul Otellini.