Intel creates new business division for connected gadgets

Intel creates new business division for connected gadgets

Tue, Nov 5 2013

By Noel Randewich

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Intel Corp has set up a business division aimed at making money out of a new technology wave that can link up a host of electronic devices. The Santa Clara, California chipmaker and other technology companies are betting that what they call the ‘Internet of Things’ – a trend toward connecting everything from bathroom scales to skyscraper ventilation systems via the Internet – will create massive demand for new electronics and software.As Intel strives to make sure it’s not caught off-guard by future technology trends, its new ‘Internet of Things Solutions Group’ will report directly to Chief Executive Brian Krzanich, according to Doug Davis, the group’s general manager.

“Krzanich is saying, ‘I want a higher level of focus on this to help us grow it and put the level of attention on it that it deserves,'” Davis told Reuters on Tuesday.

The world’s biggest chipmaker, Intel dominates the personal computer industry but was slow to adapt its chips to be suitable for smartphones and tablets. A three-decade Intel manufacturing veteran who took over as CEO in May, Krzanich has made developing mobile chips a higher priority within Intel.

In September, Krzanich announced that Intel was working on a new line of ultra-small and ultra-low-power microchips for wearable devices like smartwatches and bracelets, along with an ingestible version for biomedical uses.

The new solutions group combines an existing Intel business focused on chips for commercial and industrial devices with Intel’s Wind River subsidiary, which sells software for commercial and industrial devices.

“We’re pulling together a couple of pieces that are already doing well and we want to accelerate those efforts. This creates a primary focus around ‘Internet of Things,'” Davis said.

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Kee Koon Boon (“KB”) is the co-founder and director of HERO Investment Management which provides specialized fund management and investment advisory services to the ARCHEA Asia HERO Innovators Fund (www.heroinnovator.com), the only Asian SMID-cap tech-focused fund in the industry. KB is an internationally featured investor rooted in the principles of value investing for over a decade as a fund manager and analyst in the Asian capital markets who started his career at a boutique hedge fund in Singapore where he was with the firm since 2002 and was also part of the core investment committee in significantly outperforming the index in the 10-year-plus-old flagship Asian fund. He was also the portfolio manager for Asia-Pacific equities at Korea’s largest mutual fund company. Prior to setting up the H.E.R.O. Innovators Fund, KB was the Chief Investment Officer & CEO of a Singapore Registered Fund Management Company (RFMC) where he is responsible for listed Asian equity investments. KB had taught accounting at the Singapore Management University (SMU) as a faculty member and also pioneered the 15-week course on Accounting Fraud in Asia as an official module at SMU. KB remains grateful and honored to be invited by Singapore’s financial regulator Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to present to their top management team about implementing a world’s first fact-based forward-looking fraud detection framework to bring about benefits for the capital markets in Singapore and for the public and investment community. KB also served the community in sharing his insights in writing articles about value investing and corporate governance in the media that include Business Times, Straits Times, Jakarta Post, Manual of Ideas, Investopedia, TedXWallStreet. He had also presented in top investment, banking and finance conferences in America, Italy, Sydney, Cape Town, HK, China. He has trained CEOs, entrepreneurs, CFOs, management executives in business strategy & business model innovation in Singapore, HK and China.

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