Intel launches cell phone chip
Source: CNN.com
Chip giant Intel Corp, a relative bit player thus far in the cellphone revolution, is making its first serious foray into chips that lie at the heart of handsets and has enlisted a handful of mid-tier Asian firms to use its design.
But Intel, taking on entrenched rivals such as Texas Instruments Inc and Analog Devices, must win over top phone makers such as Nokia if it is to become a key supplier for handsets that are becoming more like computers.
"If you look at the (market) for cell phone silicon, it's in the tens of billions of U.S. dollars, and we intend to be a significant player in this space," Joe LaValle, group sales director for Intel's wireless communications and computing group told Reuters in a telephone interview.
"This is an opportunity to significantly add to Intel's revenue stream," he said, without giving estimates.
The company unveiled a new high-tech chip, called the PXA800F, on Thursday.
The chips are designed for a new generation of phones that allow for high-speed data transmission such as online games and videoconferencing. The first models using it could appear later this year, with large-scale production likely in the first half of 2004.
