(Electronic Engineering Times via NewsEdge) Taiwan's effort to roll out a nationwide WiMax network got a shot in the arm when Intel said it would invest $500 million in the country, with most of the funding earmarked for the WiMax sector.
The Taiwanese government and a group of high-tech companies last fall said they would invest $664 million in WiMax deployment.
Taiwan's M-Taiwan mobile program is aimed at establishing mobile WiMax access across the island nation, furthering the goal of Taiwan's indigenous manufacturing industry to remain in the vanguard of WiMax development and production. Companies from around the world are contributing to the effort, and Taiwanese officials are hoping foreign countries will base much of their manufacturing in Taiwan.
Lil Mohan, managing director of Intel's WiMax program, said the $500 million earmarked for Taiwan would be invested over the next five years.
'This investment is largely for WiMax,' Mohan told the Reuters news service. 'Japan will probably launch first [in Asia], since they have already invested lots of money.'
Taiwanese government representatives have previously identified other companies that are said to be committed to working on Taiwan's WiMax program, including Alcatel-Lucent, Motorola, Nokia, Sprint Nextel and Starent Networks.
Intel has said 2008 will be the year WiMax begins to make a major impact. The company is promoting its WiMax chips for use in PCs.
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