Intel ends WiMAX Program Office in Taiwan

Intel recently announced in an internal meeting that it would end its WiMAX Program Office in Taiwan, according to a report in Digitimes. The office was established to promote the development of WiMAX equipment. Intel has said that WiMAX has evolved considerably since it launched the office, and the technology is now mature enough with a number of ecosystem partners to make the technology a success.

According to Digitimes, Intel didn't inform Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), which had previously signed a WiMAX cooperation agreement with Intel along with other partners in Taiwan. Digitimes reports that staff members of the WiMAX Program Office will be moved into Intel's Mobile Wireless Group (MWG), PC Client Group (PCCG) or the Sales and Marketing (SMG) division.

Vice Economic Huang Jung-chiou told the publication that Intel's decision won't hurt Taiwan's WiMAX industry as other international players have committed to the development of equipment and services, but Huang said the MOEA will have a meeting with Taiwan WiMAX vendors to talk about possible strategies in light of Intel's move.

"Intel is integrating its WPO into various platform, product and sales organizations as part of a normal course of business today. The progress of WiMAX leads to this organizational transition as a normal process that takes place as new technologies mature and become a standard part of existing computing platforms," the company told Digitimes. "Intel continues to be one of the biggest supporters of WiMAX. WiMAX is our preferred 4G technology for delivering high-speed wireless broadband for data devices, and this organizational change in no way impacts our commitment to WiMAX. We are excited for the growth ahead with WiMAX in 2010 and 2011 where millions of WiMAX devices will make their way into the hands of end users."

For more:
- see this Digitimes article

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