Intel Corporation, the top global chipmaker, opened a software
innovation and support center in this capital city of East China's
Zhejiang Province yesterday as part of its efforts to tap the
nation's fast expanding software industry.
With IT expenditure of $43.9 billion and an annual growth rate
of 27 percent in software spending, China's PC industry is a prime
market for the chipmaker.
Intel Capital, its global investment arm, announced yesterday an
investment of $10.5 million in a local industrial automation
technology provider.
The investment will help Zhejiang Supcon Technology Co, a
subsidiary of Hangzhou-based Supcon Group, further penetrate the
market and enhance its ability to provide automation solutions
worldwide.
Announcing its plan to build a $2.5 billion semiconductor plant
in the northeastern city of Dalian, earlier this year, Intel became
one of the largest foreign investors in China and raised its total
investment in the country to nearly $4 billion.
"Being close to customers and partners in China is one of our
top priorities," said the company's global CEO Paul Otellini in
Hangzhou yesterday.
Zhejiang Province, which produces 10,000 software graduates
every year and is home to approximately 1,000 software companies,
is an example of a perfect software innovation hub, he said.
The innovation and support center is expected to become one of
the largest software testing and validating centers in Asia.
(China Daily November 1, 2007)
