Dec. 11, 2000

Intel will expand its Asian design center in Taipei, in part to help rays the level of competitiveness of the island nation's information technology companies, Sean Maloney, a senior vice president at Intel Corp. said during a visit in Taipei. Also, this would help those companies preserve their edges in the global Internet economy, he added.

Intel estimates that its purchases in Taiwan would reach US$ 900 million this year, our double of last year's US$ 450 million. Also the microchip giant said that it is considering the idea of sourcing CPF wafers from Taiwan soon.

This is Intel's largest expansion of its staffing level and financing in the six-year history of Intel's Taipei support center, which is targeted to provide chip-design expertise in Taiwan, Korea and China.

Intel possesses four main design support centers, located in the U.S. Israel, Japan and Taiwan.

Maloney explained that Intel had chosen Taiwan for its Asian design center rather than Mainland Chin, which is otherwise a more attractive market because of its lower manufacturing costs. This is because Intel believes that Taiwan still has strong competitiveness in chip design.

"Intel believes that China has no immediate prospect of replacing Taiwan as a semiconductor bellwether", said Maloney. "A well-developed semiconductor industry depends on well-prepared peripheral industries, and we believe that China still has a long way to go".