SHANGHAI--With this year's Intel developer forum focused on the company's mobility strategy, it is little surprise that its venture capital (VC) arm, Intel Capital, is concentrating a large part of its investment efforts on the mobility space.
Intel Capital Asia-Pacific managing director Cadol Cheung highlighted during his presentation at the Intel Developer Forum 2008, several areas in which the VC company is looking to scout for startups.
Cheung said major areas include mobile Internet clients and WiMax technology.
Referring to the company's investments in Wi-Fi several years ago, he pointed out that this has paid off with almost every notebook being equipped with the technology today.
Cheung noted that there is "so much interest and money" in the space--especially in China--that the VC company sometimes "even has to beg to give money to companies here".
Morgan Stanley analyst Mark Edelstone reportedly said back in 2004 that Intel's success with investments in Wi-Fi have helped drive sales of its Centrino platform. The platform integrates a mobile chipset with wireless adapter, targeted at notebooks with Wi-Fi capability.
Cheung said the VC is also interested in investing in the consumer space, highlighting areas such as content distribution over IP (Internet protocol), digital media and games.
The biggest challenge for the consumer, he said, is in finding integrated products and services which can play multiple media formats. "Many of the standards are vertically-integrating, so this makes mixing content complicated."
Intel Capital will be looking toward investing in middleware and software for eventual use in converged devices, Cheung said.
There is "huge" potential in capturing the market, which is interested in consuming different media but is not technologically-savvy enough to do so, he added.
Other areas for investment include enterprise software, storage and security with a focus on compliance and governance. The manufacturing and health industries are also of interest to Intel Capital, said Cheung.
According to him, Intel Capital invested US$639 million in deals last year, with 37 percent made in companies based outside of the United States--a figure that Cheung expects will continue rising in the coming years.
Victoria Ho of ZDNet Asia reported from the Intel Developer Forum in Shanghai, China.
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