With Eyes on China, Intel Invests Billions In Mobile Ambitions

itwbennett writes The allure of mobile devices has led Intel to take some uncharacteristic moves, partnering with Chinese companies to build some smartphone and tablet chips, and relying on third parties to manufacture those chips. Intel is betting the partnerships will accelerate its business in China, where smartphone shipments are booming. But the company wants to regain complete control over manufacturing, and on Thursday said it was investing $1.6 billion over 15 years in a China plant for mobile chip development and manufacturing.

Comments

Re:Big Mistake

[Mostly a lurker]

Perhaps. That is certainly a valid concern. However, the state of the art in this area is continually advancing very quickly. Just having an advanced fab in China does not mean that Chinese engineers are able to create the next generation chips and fabs. I think Intel's move is quite logical, and the danger of intellectual property theft not too serious in their case.

Re:Big Mistake

[Trepidity]

It's definitely a risk, but I would be surprised if they're going to be using their latest-gen technologies there, partly for that reason. So Foxconn will be able to pilfer some older tech which is by that point less secret to begin with.

Intel already has one fab in China, in Dalian, but it's on a 65nm process, several generations behind the 14, 22, 32, and 45nm processes that they use in their American fabs.

Re:Big Mistake

[Kjella]

It's definitely a risk, but I would be surprised if they're going to be using their latest-gen technologies there, partly for that reason.

You know, you could RTFA:

The chips made in the Chengdu factories won't be based on the latest process manufacturing technology, McGregor said, adding that Intel wants to protect its intellectual property and won't transfer its latest manufacturing process to China.