Intel Ready For Its Mobile Assault

Intel is ready to go all-out on the mobile chips market.

According to the supply chain boss of the silicon powerhouse, the company’s factories have been prepped and ready to begin making chips destined for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.

The comment came from Intel Chief Operating Officer Brian Krzanich who told Reuters that he has been working on tweaking Intel’s supply chain for the purpose of making mobile-related chips and that his efforts has already produced factories which are ready to back Intel in its war against other chipmakers in the mobile tech industry.

“We will start to see more and more of our capacity and our output go to things that are mobile, like phones and tablets and other devices,” Reuters quotes Krzanich as saying in an interview.

How did Krzanich plan for Intel’s assault on the mobile industry? According to Krzanich – who, according to Reuters, is a prime candidate to be the future CEO of Intel because of his current role – he has specifically focused on cutting the turnaround times at Intel’s most advanced manufacturing facilities.

Now why would Intel need to do this if it wants to be a strong player in the mobile industry? It’s because the mobile industry is fragmented. This means that dominant companies today all have different requirements for their chips.

Naturally, with the lot of smartphones and tablets being different according to the specifications needed by the tech company making it, Intel could potentially be faced with a bevy of orders for chips which are not exactly made by the exact same process. It makes sense that the less time it takes to produce chips up to the standards and requirements of the company which ordered them, the better it will be not only for that company but also for Intel.

This is not like the PC industry wherein Intel makes a line of processors and motherboards which can all fit into the machines made by other companies.

Remember, Android smartphones and tablets powered by Intel are expected to be launched this first half of the year. There’s only three months now to go before that time frame expires. Intel is also moving into production of ever more efficient but still-powerful chips to compete with chips made using the architecture of rival firm ARM Holdings.

Last January, Intel also hinted during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that smartphones and tablets with Intel components are on the way. Furthermore, in the recently-ended Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona, Spain, Intel demonstrated Medfield-powered smartphones. Medfield, which is the first mobile chip to be released by Intel, was also seen powering a tablet at the MWC.

It looks like Intel is really going all-out. Not only is it interested in the hardware which powers smartpones and tablets, remember that it also has the mobile operating system Tizen with Samsung and other partners.

On the hardware side, however, Krzanich is very proud of what he has done.

“What have I brought to manufacturing? Speed and agility. That’s exactly what the PC business and exactly what the phone business will need,” he told Reuters.

What do you think about this issue? Tell us more on the comments below.

Source: Reuters & AppSplit,

Images 1 & 2 From huangjiahui & Thomas Hawk on Flickr (Creative Commons)

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