Intel has broad smartphone strategy

From CNET News.com: Intel plans to offer a broad selection of silicon technologies for smartphones, as it seeks to grab a part of German chipmaker Infineon.

Intel is on a mission: the world's largest chipmaker is virtually absent in one of the hottest digital device markets. And, as Apple has demonstrated with its iPhone and its own A4 chip, high-end smartphone technology is bleeding over into tablets, another hot market.

The circumstances for Intel couldn't be more different from the PC market, where it is too dominant, as the settlement with the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday underscores.

So, what does Intel have to do to catch up with the dominant silicon players in smartphones, such as the Qualcomm and Texas Instruments? It will buy its way into the market if necessary, while moving its chip manufacturing technology forward at a blistering pace to squeeze more performance onto a smartphone chip than competitors by 2011 or thereabouts.

But first it needs more silicon technology. A requirement for any major smartphone chip supplier is to have not only the processor--referred to as an application processor--but also have a smorgasbord of connection options--such as 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi, GPS--for customers.

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