Intel Said to Win Nokia as Customer for Mobile Chips
-- Intel Corp., the world’s largest chipmaker, will supply Nokia Oyj with processors for mobile devices, a breakthrough in its effort to enter the phone market, a person familiar with the matter said.
The deal will be announced on a conference call tomorrow, said the person, who declined to be identified because the details are confidential. Intel scheduled the call for an “important announcement” with Anand Chandrasekher, senior vice president of the company’s ultra-mobility group.
Intel, whose microprocessors run more than 80 percent of the world’s personal computers, has struggled for about a decade to get a foothold in the market for mobile-phone chips. Chandrasekher leads a group that sells a scaled-down version of Intel’s personal-computer processor. The chip, called Atom, is designed for mobile devices that access the Web and send e-mail.
“Even if they get just a piece of Nokia’s business, it’s a big deal,” said Will Strauss, a Cave Creek, Arizona-based analyst for research firm Forward Concepts. “Nokia is still the biggest cell-phone maker in the world.”
Claudine Mangano, a spokeswoman for Santa Clara, California-based Intel, declined to comment. Laurie Armstrong, a spokeswoman for Nokia in the U.S., didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment.
Otellini’s Plan
In 2006, Intel Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini scrapped his predecessor’s $5 billion investment in chips for mobile devices, after the company was late to the market and failed to win enough customers.
Now Otellini is again pushing to get Intel’s chips into phones, a bid to lessen the company’s reliance on computers, which account for than 90 percent of sales. A total of 1.21 billion mobile phones were sold globally last year, according to ABI Research in Oyster Bay, New York.
Intel shares fell 33 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $15.68 today on the Nasdaq Stock Market. They have gained 7 percent this year. Espoo, Finland-based Nokia fell 46 cents, or 4.3 percent, to 10.29 euros.
Intel Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith said in February that the company needed to land one of the top five mobile-phone makers if it wanted to build a significant business.
Texas Instruments
Intel is challenging Texas Instruments Inc., the largest maker of chips used to run programs in mobile phones. San Diego- based Qualcomm Inc., meanwhile, supplies the majority of communications chips for phones. Both companies have said that Intel would struggle to break their dominance because its products use too much power.
Intel announced in February it had landed LG Electronics Inc., the world’s third-largest phone maker, as a customer. LG will use an Intel processor to make a mobile Internet device, a cross between a mobile phone and a computer.
Intel’s attempts to create a mobile business have foundered before after early announcements of interest from customers, said Jim McGregor, an analyst at Scottsdale, Arizona-based research firm In-Stat.
“They’ve been dreaming of getting a significant win at Nokia,” he said. “It’s a big announcement, they’re a key guy. The only question now is whether they will actually come out with a product.”
source
The deal will be announced on a conference call tomorrow, said the person, who declined to be identified because the details are confidential. Intel scheduled the call for an “important announcement” with Anand Chandrasekher, senior vice president of the company’s ultra-mobility group.
Intel, whose microprocessors run more than 80 percent of the world’s personal computers, has struggled for about a decade to get a foothold in the market for mobile-phone chips. Chandrasekher leads a group that sells a scaled-down version of Intel’s personal-computer processor. The chip, called Atom, is designed for mobile devices that access the Web and send e-mail.
“Even if they get just a piece of Nokia’s business, it’s a big deal,” said Will Strauss, a Cave Creek, Arizona-based analyst for research firm Forward Concepts. “Nokia is still the biggest cell-phone maker in the world.”
Claudine Mangano, a spokeswoman for Santa Clara, California-based Intel, declined to comment. Laurie Armstrong, a spokeswoman for Nokia in the U.S., didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment.
Otellini’s Plan
In 2006, Intel Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini scrapped his predecessor’s $5 billion investment in chips for mobile devices, after the company was late to the market and failed to win enough customers.
Now Otellini is again pushing to get Intel’s chips into phones, a bid to lessen the company’s reliance on computers, which account for than 90 percent of sales. A total of 1.21 billion mobile phones were sold globally last year, according to ABI Research in Oyster Bay, New York.
Intel shares fell 33 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $15.68 today on the Nasdaq Stock Market. They have gained 7 percent this year. Espoo, Finland-based Nokia fell 46 cents, or 4.3 percent, to 10.29 euros.
Intel Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith said in February that the company needed to land one of the top five mobile-phone makers if it wanted to build a significant business.
Texas Instruments
Intel is challenging Texas Instruments Inc., the largest maker of chips used to run programs in mobile phones. San Diego- based Qualcomm Inc., meanwhile, supplies the majority of communications chips for phones. Both companies have said that Intel would struggle to break their dominance because its products use too much power.
Intel announced in February it had landed LG Electronics Inc., the world’s third-largest phone maker, as a customer. LG will use an Intel processor to make a mobile Internet device, a cross between a mobile phone and a computer.
Intel’s attempts to create a mobile business have foundered before after early announcements of interest from customers, said Jim McGregor, an analyst at Scottsdale, Arizona-based research firm In-Stat.
“They’ve been dreaming of getting a significant win at Nokia,” he said. “It’s a big announcement, they’re a key guy. The only question now is whether they will actually come out with a product.”
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