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Technology Stocks : Intel Corporation (INTC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Amy J who wrote (75715)	3/8/1999 7:48:00 AM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

Intel <INTC.O> pegs hopes on Pentium 3 in China By Matt Pottinger BEIJING, March 8 (Reuters) - Intel Corp is betting China's rush to embrace the Internet will fuel demand for its new Pentium 3 microprocessors, company executives said on Monday. Personal computers with the Pentium 3 chip went on sale in China on February 26 as part of a global launch. "We now have the Internet in mind with every product we design," Intel senior vice president Albert Yu told reporters at a demonstration for Chinese computer company executives. Internet use in China was "going to explode" over the next two years, he said. "I think the demand for the chip is going to be there." But some in the audience at the demonstration were sceptical of the need for such powerful computing power in China. "The biggest problem in China is with the telecommunications system," said Pu Kang, a finance official at a Sino-Japanese joint venture, referring to China's relatively high Internet access fees and jam-packed networks. Quoting the Chinese proverb that describes excessive measures, she said using the new Pentium chip would be like "using an ox cleaver to kill a chicken." E-commerce is still in its infancy in China, in part because the country still lacks the financial infrastructure, such as a developed credit system. Yu brushed aside such concerns, citing expansion of China's telecommunications infrastructure and Beijing's decision last week to slash Internet access fees by 50 percent to four yuan (48 cents) an hour. Personal computers sporting the Pentium 3 chip sell in China for between 13,000 and 20,000 yuan ($1,570-$2,415). A decent monthly salary in Beijing would be 800-1,000 yuan. China had 2.1 million Internet users at the end of 1998, according to official figures. Some analysts predict the number could soar to 10 million by the end of 2001. Chinese bought about four million personal computers in 1998, and would probably buy around five million in 1999, according to a Beijing-based analyst with International Data Corporation. Intel's president for China, Jim Jarrett, said he expected the country's appetite for state-of-the art chips to keep pace with the rest of the world's. "If past is precedent, absolutely. The Pentium 2 sold very, very well in China, and we would expect the same thing to occur with the Pentium 3," Jarrett said. ($1.0 = 8.28 yuan) -- Beijing Newsroom (86) 10-6532-1921; Fax (86) 10-6532-4978 -- E-mail: beijing.newsroom@reuters.com REUTERS Rtr 05:22 03-08-99