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China Vice President visits Silicon Valley
2002-05-04
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao wrapped up his inaugural visit to the United States on Friday with stops in the heart of Silicon Valley, including a visit to build relations with Intel Corp. (INTC.O), the world's largest semiconductor manufacturer. Hu, expected to take over from Jiang Zemin as head of the Communist Party this year and as China's president in 2003, met with Intel Chairman Andy Grove and Chief Executive Craig Barrett, who both told Hu of China's strategic importance to Santa Clara, California-based Intel, said company spokesman Chuck Mulloy. In turn, "the vice president told Craig and Andy that technology is strategically important to the growth of China's economy," Mulloy said. "It was a relationship-building visit." Hu's Silicon Valley tour highlighted the growing technological relationship between the United States and China, which is aggressively seeking to broaden its own place in the world's high-tech marketplaces. Intel officials say that for the last five years, China has been the fastest growing market for the 34-year-old chipmaker in the Asia-Pacific region. In the first quarter, the Asia-Pacific market excluding Japan accounted for 31 percent of Intel's $6.78 billion in revenue. Intel has invested about $500 million in China in the last five years, Mulloy said. The company has two assembly and test plants in China, as well as research and development centers in Beijing and Shanghai. Intel has said that one out of every two new microprocessors -- the brains of a personal computer -- sold in the next five years will be into emerging markets such as China and Latin America. Most U.S. high-technology companies are focusing increasingly on China as an important growth market. Computer networking company Cisco Systems Inc., for example, has been investing aggressively in Asia, as well as China, for at least the past five years. Hu's Intel visit was requested by the Chinese government, Mulloy said. Hu, who arrived in the United States on Saturday, came to the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday from Washington, where he met President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Following brief talks with Grove, Barrett and other senior Intel executives, Hu was given a preview of coming technology and gizmos, including a pen with software that recognizes Chinese characters and the prototype for a handheld digital assistant for officials to use in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Hu is due to return to China on Friday following the Silicon Valley tour and a meeting with local Chinese-American leaders. Reuters... ... | Note: this page has been archived under Muzi Premium Version and is only available to premium members. Please use the Premium Personal Password (PPP) to log in.
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