Intel's VC Bets Aren't For Direct Returns

from the well,-duh... dept

I've been saying this for years, but there was a period of time when I was on Intel's payroll, so I got to see it from the inside: everything Intel does is to promote the sale of selling more chips. Even when the moves don't necessarily seem to make sense, you can trace it back to the goal of more chips. Thus, I find it a bit amusing that someone at Business Week seems to have just discovered this as an explanation for why it's okay that Intel's venture capital arm loses lots of money. They're not investing to make money directly. Unlike so many companies out there, folks at Intel actually do take a strategic view of things, and realize that the indirect benefit for their investments make them strong enough to overcome the direct losses. Of course, what they're focusing on these days seems to be wireless - because they realize the power of wireless to let them sell an awful lot of chips, even if they make a few bad bets here and there.

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