Intel CEO announces Intel Smart Device Innovation Center in Shenzhen and $100M Intel Capital China Smart Device Innovation Fund.

April 2, 2014

6 Min Read

SHENZHEN, China -- As the computing industry landscape undergoes rapid transformation, Intel Corporation CEO Brian Krzanich today outlined the company's plans to build upon its nearly 30-year history in China, and collaborate with the growing technology ecosystem, particularly in Shenzhen, to accelerate new innovation and reshape the computing industry.

During his keynote, Krzanich discussed how Intel and the Shenzhen technology ecosystem can re-ignite growth – both locally and globally – and deliver differentiated computing products and experiences, spanning multiple market segments, operating systems and price points. Underscoring this point, he announced the establishment of an Intel Smart Device Innovation Center in Shenzhen and a US$100 million Intel Capital China Smart Device Innovation Fund.

Intel's CEO also detailed several new products and technologies the company will begin offering this year, including Intel® Edison, a product-ready, general-purpose computing platform first imagined in the company's research labs in China. He also announced availability of the Intel® Gateway Solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT) based on Intel Quark™ and Atom™ processors, and demonstrated for the first time SoFIA, Intel's first integrated mobile SoC platform for entry and value smartphones and tablets.

Krzanich was joined at the opening day of its annual developer forum by Ian Yang, president of Intel China, who kicked off the conference, and Diane Bryant, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Data Center Group, whose keynote outlined Intel's data center technologies as the foundation of modern computing and emerging business opportunities presented by the growth of smart, connected devices.

"The China technology ecosystem will be instrumental in the transformation of computing," said Krzanich. "To help drive global innovation, Intel will stay focused on delivering leadership products and technologies that not only allow our partners to rapidly innovate, but also deliver on the promise that 'if it computes, it does it best with Intel' – from the edge device to the cloud, and everything in between."

Building on the company's history of enabling and collaborating with customers to deliver innovative platforms, Intel will establish the Intel Smart Device Innovation Center in Shenzhen to accelerate the delivery of Intel technology-based devices to the China market and beyond.

The center will expand Intel's work beyond tablets and provide local OEMs, ODMs, and software developers with access to Intel technology platforms and enabling support, including master reference designs for turnkey solutions, development tools, supply chain sourcing, quality management and customer support – acting as a bridge between product conception and commercial deployment.

Further accelerating this effort, Krzanich announced the US$100 million Intel Capital China Smart Device Innovation Fund focused on accelerating innovation of smart devices, including 2 in 1s, tablets, smartphones, wearables, IoT and other related technologies in China. The new investment reinforces Intel Capital's commitment to the China IT industry and ecosystem development. Since 1998, Intel Capital has invested more than US$670 million in 110 companies in China across two already-established investment funds.

As 4G LTE service expands in China, Intel is well-positioned to provide a growing share of LTE chipsets. Intel's 2014 LTE platform, the Intel XMM 7260, meets the five-mode requirement of China Mobile today, including support for TD-LTE, and TD-SCDMA protocols required in China.

Intel is actively engaged in China for certification of the XMM 7260, paving the way for commercial availability in the second half of 2014 for performance and mainstream device market segments. Krzanich demonstrated the Intel XMM 7260 by conducting the first public, live call using China Mobile's TD-LTE network, and spoke to strong ecosystem demand for a competitive LTE alternative.

Intel is also developing its SoFIA family of integrated mobile SoCs for entry and value smartphones and tablets. Krzanich demonstrated the family's first silicon, booting up the new integrated Intel Atom platform just months after adding the product to its ultra-mobile roadmap. He also noted the strategic opportunity these market segments present for Intel and the China technology ecosystems. Intel's SoFIA 3G platform is on track to ship to OEMs in the fourth-quarter of 2014.

Krzanich also said that Intel is on track to ship 40 million tablets this year, and showcased a variety of innovative designs developed in China by OEMs and ODMs.

Intel is actively pursuing a range of solutions, from the edge device to the cloud, to address the growing opportunities presented by IoT.

Krzanich announced availability of the Intel Gateway Solutions for IoT, an integrated solution based on Intel Quark and Atom processors, in addition to an Intel® Galileo-based development platform. These platforms will help businesses reduce costs and offer new services by unlocking valuable data from legacy systems that traditionally haven't had a means to communicate with each other and the cloud.

The first platforms integrate Wind River and McAfee software to help accelerate time to market and will be available from the ecosystem this quarter. Customers developing gateway solutions include Shaspa for energy and building automation, RocKontrol for energy management, TransWiseway and Vnomics for transportation, and Zebra Technologies Corp for locating solutions in retail, healthcare and manufacturing.

Turning to other smart, connected devices that help make up the IoT, Krzanich said Intel Edison is on track for availability later this summer.

The Intel Edison disclosure in January drove enthusiastic responses from the pro maker and entrepreneurial communities as well as consumer electronics and industrial IoT companies. Krzanich said Intel is extending Intel Edison to a family of development boards that will address a broader range of market segments and customer needs.

The first Intel Edison board will now include use of Intel's leading-edge 22nm Silvermont microarchitecture in development of a dual core Intel Atom SoC, increased I/O capabilities and software support, and a new, simplified industrial design.

During her keynote address, Bryant shared how Intel's data center technologies are the foundation for modern computing, and that the opportunity to collaborate and drive local and global innovation is just getting started. As companies shift to the rapid delivery of digital services, new demands are placed on the data center, creating opportunities for new innovations from partners. The three key growth areas in particular are the cloud, big data analytics and high performance computing.

Bryant was joined by Xuefeng Yuan, director of the Guangzhou Supercomputing Center to showcase how high performance computing technologies are improving society and increasing economic growth. The Milky Way 2 system has more than 54 petaflops of performance – about twice the performance of the second largest system on the current TOP500 supercomputer list. Intel technology has enabled local companies to get the massive system ready to start making important scientific breakthroughs and new discoveries.

Intel also disclosed that the next-generation Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 v3 product family based on the Haswell microarchitecture will be in production in the second half of this year.

Doug Fisher, vice president and general manager of Intel's Software and Services Group, Hermann Eul, vice president and general manager of Intel's Mobile and Communications Group, and Kirk Skaugen, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's PC Client Group, will open the second day of IDF. Each will highlight Intel's advancements in mobile hardware and software development across Windows* and Android*, address the opportunities and collaboration Intel sees in China and with the China technology ecosystem, and outline how Intel works with customers to help them differentiate and take full advantage of Intel's products and technologies.

Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC)

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