Intel is aggressively marching towards regaining the dominance it once enjoyed in the chip-manufacturing industry. As a result of the same, the company today announced plans to invest $1.6 Billion in China, to upgrade an existing factory in western China (via Reuters).
Intel executive vice president William Holt said in a statement,
Deploying our newest advanced testing technology in China shows our commitment to innovating jointly with China, the fully upgraded Chengdu plant will help the Chinese semiconductor industry and boost regional economic growth.
This new upgrade announcement comes after Intel acquired a minority stake in a government controlled semiconductor company to manufacture mobile chips. Intel’s overall dominance in the chip-manufacturing industry has been declining as it faces competition from leading chip makers like Qualcomm.
Intel’s investment in China may help the company in establishing long-term, fruitful relations with the Chinese regulatory authorities, an area where quite a lot of western companies haven’t really excelled. The Chinese government has been cracking down companies like Microsoft and Qualcomm under the allegations of various policy violations.
Foreign companies have been arguing China’s regulatory policies by alleging the government of increasingly adopting policies which help domestic companies develop using technology-sharing methods. However, China has been defending its policies citing similar cases against these companies in the west.
