World biggest chip producer Intel Corporation said on Dec. 5 that it plans to invest more than one billon US dollars to expand its operations in India and technology companies there, International Finance News reports.

Craig Barrett, chairman at California-based Intel, said in a statement that the investment not only shows Intel's long-term commitment, but also indicates Intel will consolidate the foundation laid throughout the past ten years in India.

Barrett said, Intel will input 800 million US dollars to expand its R&D center in south India's Bangalore, and it will also make a venture capital of 250 million US dollars available for India's software and hardware companies.

In the past ten years, Intel has totally spent 700 million US dollars in India. In addition, starting from 1998, the company has provided capitals for about 40 Indian enterprises.

Currently Intel is undergoing negotiations with the Indian government on setting up a chip plant, Barrett added.

As Intel's rival, AMD has also made steps into the Indian market. The company announced days ago that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with India's emerging technology company SemIndia on building a chip plant with an investment of three billion US dollars.

Optimistic about the Indian market, AMD established an engineering center in Bangalore in April last year, which designs CPU and developing chip software.

There has been an increasingly heated competition among global IT giants for the emerging market of India. Last October, Cisco president John Chambers announced during his visit to India an investment of 1.1 billion US dollars, which highlighted the growing importance of the Indian market in the global economy.

By People's Daily Online