Mitac, Inventec to team up with Intel for new mobile phone chips

Taipei, Feb. 19, 2003 (CENS)--Taiwan's mobile phone industry will have the chance of overtaking the industry in South Korea if makers on the island cement closer cooperation with Intel Corp., which has stepped up the development of chips for the handsets.

At least two Taiwan companies, Mitac International and Inventec, will produce the Manitoba chips developed by Intel for mobile phones. They are among the eight partners in Asia selected by Intel. They also include four companies in mainland China and one each in Hong Kong and South Korea.

A senior executive of Intel Taiwan said that companies on the island lagged behind Korean makers in the manufacturing of mobile phones. However, the accelerated development of personal digital assistants (PDAs) and the well developed telecom equipment in Taiwan will now give them an upper hand.

Taiwan companies have another advantage of possible cooperation with partners on the mainland with Intel serving as a bridge. Mainland China has now emerged as the world's largest mobile phone market.

The closer tie-up in the development and production of new microchips like Manitoba for mobile phones with Intel will also help generate much business opportunities for companies in Taiwan.