Chip giant Intel will invest $600 million in a wireless Internet services company as part of a $900-million deal that also includes Motorola, an Associated Press report said.
The report said Intel, which was trying to drive the adoption of a wireless technology known as WiMAX, would finance US-based start-up Clearwire, which offered wireless Internet services in 200 cities.
The investment represented the biggest for Intel Capital, which funded fledgling businesses that had the potential to accelerate demand for the personal-computer chips it sold, the report said.
The report quoted Sean Maloney, VP of Intel's mobility group, as saying that starting next year, Intel planned to include WiMAX capabilities in select versions of Centrino, a package of chips designed to extend the battery life in notebook computers and to make it easier for them to connect to wireless networks.
Intel also planned to make WiMAX a standard part of Centrino and possibly other products, he said.
The deal called for Motorola and other investors to fund the remaining $300 million. Maloney declined to say how much Motorola was contributing or to name the other funders, the report further said.