[photopress:IT_Intel_arvindsodhani.jpg,full,alignright]They are not giving the money away, you understand. Investing it. Intel, the world’s largest computer-chip maker, has formed a $500 million China fund to more than triple investments in companies in the world’s biggest semiconductor market.
The chipmaker said in a statement in Beijing that Holdfast Online Technology and Newauto Video Technology will be among the businesses targeted by Intel Capital’s China Technology Fund II. The previous China fund spent $200 million in more than 28 companies.
Intel seeks to gain a bigger share of the world’s fastest-growing major economy. According to February estimates at research firm IDC chip sales in China will surpass $28 billion in 2011, driven by demand for computing and consumer electronics.
Arvind Sodhani, president of Intel Capital, seen in our illustration, said at a briefing in Beijing, ‘We want to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in China.’ And possibly make a few quid for Intel.
Sodhani said the fund, which should be used up in five to seven years, is the chipmaker’s single largest in one country.
He said, ‘That should give you a pretty good idea of the importance and size of commitment to China.’
Intel is building a $2.5 billion chip factory, its first in Asia, in the Chinese port city of Dalian.
The company, which has investment managers based in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing, made its first strategic investment in China in 1998. Last year, Intel Capital invested about $639 million, 37% of which was being spent outside the U.S., compared with less than 5% in 1998.
Source: Bloomberg
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