S Korea to get Intel R&D center
S Korea to get Intel R&D center
KOREAN CLUSTER: The company is hoping to capitalize on South Korea's highly wired market, while Seoul wants to attract as many high-tech research labs as it can
AFP , SEOUL Tuesday, Mar 09, 2004,Page 12
Advertising US high-tech giant Intel Corp said yesterday it had agreed to open a research center in South Korea, the world's leading high-speed broadband market. The agreement was reached at a meeting here between Patrick Gelsinger, Intel's senior vice president and chief technology officer, and Yim Chu-jwan, president of the state-run Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, a joint statement said.
It highlights a new push by global high-tech giants into South Korea, which has the world's highest broadband penetration rate at 73 percent and the world's fastest mobile phone network.
IBM Corp, the world's largest computer company, agreed last year to open a research and development center in South Korea to develop software for mobile communications.
Intel said its research center in Seoul will focus on "advanced wireless communications technology, high-quality media coding and next generation platforms for content distribution and consumption.
"Digital technology and the rapid expansion of digital content is changing how people experience entertainment and personal content within the home," Gelsinger said in the statement.
Intel gave no figures for its new South Korea investment saying only that the research lab would hire 20 people by the end of this year.
For this year, Intel set its capital spending budget at US$3.6 billion to US$4.0 billion.
South Korea's Information and Communication vice minister Kim Chang-gon said six international companies, including IBM, are expected to set up research labs in South Korea this year.
"Our goal is to make a cluster of world-class research centers here ... we plan to attract six research and development centers, four in the first half and two in the second," he said.
South Korea's once-booming high-tech industry led by mobile operators has been struggling to tide over a period of slow growth, competition and weak consumption caused by an economic downturn.
Finance and Economy Minister Lee Hun-jai promised last week to take steps aimed at raising the proportion of foreign direct investment from 9.2 percent of gross domestic product in 2002 to 14 percent by 2010. This story has been viewed 1098 times.
Intel's New R&D Center Has Seoul
Seeing an opportunity to develop its next-generation platforms in a country eager to connect, Intel (Quote, Chart) set up a new research and development laboratory in South Korea this week.
The new center is the result of Intel CEO Craig Barrett's recent Asia-Pacific trip, which included a stopover in South Korea and a meeting with President Roh Moo-hyun.
According to its latest financial filing, Intel will spend $4.8 billion on research and development this year, up from $4.4 billion in 2003. The increase is driven by development of the Intel's next-generation 65-nanometer process technology, scheduled for production in 2005 on 300-mm wafers.
The Santa Clara, Calif., chip making giant said the center in Seoul will focus on building better wireless communications technology, high-quality media coding, and improved platforms for content distribution. The center will also collaborate with the technology industry on wireless communications technologies, such as Ultra-Wideband (define), and the South Korean government on spectrum reform issues, holding rapid deployment of new wireless technologies as the goal.
While Japan and China are largely perceived to be technological hotspots, South Korea's IT growth has been strong over the last few years. The W3C said Korea has one of the fastest-growing economies in East Asia, with a premium placed on IT.
The No. 1 chipmaker said it is also impressed by South Korea's aggressive broadband and wireless adoption, the government's strong commitment to policies that support new communication technologies, and experienced researchers in consumer electronics.
"The Korea R&D center provides a great opportunity for companies and industry to develop exciting new experiences and interoperable products for the worldwide marketplace," Intel CTO Pat Gelsinger said in a statement.
The South Korea market is ripe for Intel's vision of a digital home. A survey released by the Ministry of Information and Communication this week said there were nearly 30 million Internet users in South Korea in December. On average, South Koreans spent 12.5 hours online per week and that more than 85 percent of subscribers had multiple e-mail accounts, the survey found.
Intel is also welcoming local technology companies, government, and research institutes to work with the center. Intel named KS Lee as the center's first director. Before joining Intel, Lee worked at Samsung Electronics in the Digital Media Network businesses.
In related news, Intel signed a pact with Chu-Hwan Yim, president of the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI). Intel and ETRI will jointly develop new technologies related to multi-stream media distribution over home networks, home automation and home servers.