China will become the third largest online market in the Asia Pacific region by 2003, the president of the world's biggest chip maker told the audience on the Intel China's E-Business Forum held in Shanghai Monday.
As president and chief executive officer of Intel Corp, Craig R. Barrett said he was committed to strengthening investment in chip products, software and network solutions. Also on the company's agenda are wireless and voice recognition services.
He also suggested China build up its distribution and logistics business to provide a strong back-up for its strategy to build up an integrated circuits industry to compete globally.
"I see the Internet as the driving force behind the dramatic changes in business Tuesday and I expect to see exponential growth in China's Internet economy,'' he said.
E-business will transform the economy in China by providing access to new business opportunities worldwide. To be competitive with other nations in this growing global economy, China needs to make the Internet and e-biz both a business and a national priority, he said.
Barrett said that investment will flow in the next few years to strengthen Shanghai's manufacturing and technology renovation.
"The focus will be on the manufacture of flash memory chips, software and network solutions and expanding manufacture capability and presence in China's major cities,'' he said.
Global demand on flash memory chips, a core element in mobile phone products, has been picking up in the last couple of years. More than half of the mobile phone products produced worldwide by big giants like Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola are equipped with Intel chips.
With about US$2 million investment in its flash memory chip manufacturing base in Pudong's Waigaoqiao industrial area, Intel anticipates Shanghai will become a major flash memory chip production base for its global market. Nearly 95 percent of the chips made in the base are exported worldwide.
Intel expects to sell 150 million chips made at the Waigaoqiao manufacturing base, double last year's figure. Exports hit US$556 million last year.
"Wireless services and voice recognition services will be up on our agenda,'' he said. "We will keep moving into new business arenas like mobile, Internet and telecoms.''
Turning to China's infant integrated circuits sector, which boomed in the 1960s but backpedalled in the last decade because of a shortage of funds, Barrett said the lack of a distribution sector was the main problem.
(China Daily 10/23/2000)
