Company sees many opportunities on mainland
Intel Capital, the venture capital arm of Intel Corp, will plough US$500 million into technology start-up companies on the mainland and in Hong Kong over the next three to five years as international demand grows for a stake in China's increasingly lucrative technology sector.
Intel Capital will target companies engaged in software development, chip design, gaming, wireless broadband and digital health, according to Arvind Sodhani, the president of Intel Capital and an executive vice-president of Intel, the world's biggest computer-chip maker.
'We see many opportunities in China and we will chase them,' Mr Sodhani said in Beijing yesterday.
The new fund will make its first investments in Holdfast Online Technology, a Shanghai-based start-up that makes technology for online gaming, and Beijing's Newauto Video Technology, which provides network solutions and digital editing for mainland television stations.
The announcement comes just three years after Intel Capital launched a US$200 million China-focused technology fund, which it has fully invested in around 30 local companies, far more rapidly than the company had anticipated.
'Investing in China is very attractive. Our fund has produced top-tier returns comparable to those of the world's top-tier venture capital funds,' Mr Sodhani said.
