WiMax Nation: Intel Gears Up

Stocks:  (INTC)(MOT)(QCOM)(S)

There has been a growing body of evidence that Intel is planning to base much of its future growth on WiMax. It investment in Clearwire, a WiMax service firm, its alliance to build out WiMax in other countries with partner Samsung and Motorola, and visits of its management abroad to promote WiMax in places like India are road signs.

Now, Intel management is saying that WiMax will support a generation of ultra-small PCs with screens in the 3 to 5 inch range. The source for broadband connectivity for the machines will be WiMax.

Intel plays down its competition with Qualcomm which could put WiMax against the CDMA technology. But, Intel seems to be hiding its desire to replace Qualcomm as the de facto industry provider of next generation wireless broadband. And, Sprint’s nationwide WiMax network should help Intel’s plans

And, Intel believes that it will have the chip horepower to make small PC-like devices the mobile choice of the future. As Fortune magazine points out: "The coming super-mini, portable, in-your-pocket PC, in the Intel view, will just be the way that such enormously powerful chips get put to use."

With PC sales slowing and cellphone sales predicted to rise less than 10% in 2007, Intel may have found a magic bullet.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.