The investment will be the largest for the chipmaker in developing countries, said company spokesperson Mike Green. However, the company is not going from zero to sixty because the $1bn investment is a combination of new programs and an expansion of existing ones, Green said.
Intel declined to quantify the real increase in its emerging-markets investment, but Green said it was a reasonable increase.
Emerging markets represent to Intel the most significant incremental growth areas. Emerging markets currently drive about 35% of the total available market for PCs worldwide, and Intel projects it will grow to about 47% by 2009, Green said.
Of course, Intel is the world’s largest maker of PC microprocessors.
The company’s so-called Intel World Ahead Program has three main goals. First, is to create greater PC accessibility, which includes developing affordable machines tailored to regional needs.
Intel also wants to expand wireless broadband access, mostly through the WiMax trials and deployments. Intel will invest more than half a billion dollars before the end of the decade on WiMax, Green said. And we’re working with an ecosystem that will invest ten times that.
So far, Intel has been part of 175 ongoing WiMax trials worldwide, by either providing funding or technology or both for the trials, Green said.
Thirdly, Intel wants to educate the developing world about PCs and will fund education programs and resources, sometimes in partnership with governments. Within five years, Santa Clara, California-based Intel said it hopes to help train 10 million teachers to potentially train a billion students in technology.
