The Intel Corporation has announced it will locate the global headquarters of its Channel Platforms Group (CPG) in the city's Minhang District, highlighting its commitment to pushing forward the IT industry in China.

The Channel Platforms Group focuses on expanding Intel's reach into worldwide markets by creating innovative platforms to meet computing/communication needs of local markets.

"For the first time in Intel's history, the corporation has made the decision to locate the global headquarters of one of its five major business units outside of the US," said William Siu, vice-president of Intel Corporation, yesterday.

The move was highly praised by Shanghai Vice-Mayor Zhou Yupeng, who said the firm has made a great contribution to the fast development of the city's IT industry.

Siu considered Intel's decision as "a milestone expansion" to increase PC literacy across emerging markets, particularly in China.

Tens of thousands of product designers, researchers and IT employees will be employed for the new business unit, he said.

Siu added: "Emerging markets are a growth engine for Intel, and China represents our largest opportunity for PC expansion."

Siu, also general manager of CPG, said: "We will continue to develop and sell standard platform products to meet the needs of resellers and dealers in mature markets,"

Intel has found that emerging markets have very different requirements and face environmental conditions that impact on the way they interact with technology.

"Therefore, CPG will focus on developing localized platform solutions to meet the needs of these markets," Siu said.

To echo its market expansion strategy, Intel also announced yesterday that it would open four special centers around the world to define locally relevant computing solutions, said the Shanghai PDC Director Kuan Teik-Yean.

Intel PDCs are being established in four key markets Bangalore in India, Cairo in Egypt, Sao Paulo in Brazil and Shanghai.

The centers will identify environmental considerations and marketplace requirements specific to each geographical region.

They will primarily serve South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and East Asia.

"The Shanghai centre will join its Indian counterpart to serve China and India as well as the Asia-Pacific region," Kuan said. Each centre is staffed with designers, solution engineers and systems architects who will conduct in-depth research and analysis to drive platform development.

"Setting up platform definition centers demonstrates Intel's drive towards digital inclusion for emerging markets," Siu said.

He said the establishment of PDCs around the world and the selection of Shanghai for the CPG headquarters underscores Intel's commitment to the Chinese market.

The Asia-Pacific region is a major growth area for Intel, and Shanghai is becoming increasingly important as a commercial and technology centre, not only for China, but for the worldwide IT industry.

Shanghai is now a centre for Intel assembly and testing facilities, R&D, and sales & marketing offices due to its investment of more than US$500 million over the past decade. The capital is part of its investment of US$1.3 billion in China.

"Shanghai is continuing to grow in importance as a base of operations for us," he said.

By working closely with local channel players, Intel will enable China to grow its own IT ecosystems and build up local industries, he said.

"We believe Intel's operations in China will turn the country into the largest IT market in the world, beating the US market within three to five years," Siu said.

(China Daily August 2, 2005)