This year will be another strong year for Intel and the outlook for 2012 is even stronger as the need for cloud computingand smartphone infrastructure grows, Christian Morales, general manager at Intel EMEA told CNBC on Friday.
“In 2011, we see cloud computing infrastructure continuing to develop very fast. We see next generation data center deployments continuing to take place. We see the notebook market keeping on growing at a double-digit rate...The amount of opportunities is huge,” Morales told CNBC.
Investors have voiced concern over the company’s modest role in the increasingly popular smartphone and tablet computer market, but Morales dispelled fears that the company would not get its chips into new devices.
“We have about 35 designs in the pipeline right now,” Morales said.
“What is important with companion devices like tablets is that the more tablets you have, the more notebooks you need because you still need hubs at home. You still need to store your information. Tablets are great for consuming information. They are not great for producing information and content so you need notebooks and netbooks,” he said.
Intel was also taking new initiatives to tackle the smartphone segment.
“Hopefully we’re going to see breakthrough smartphones coming up this year, based on our architecture,” Morales said.
The company is increasing capital expenditure significantly to fund the construction of a new fabrication plant and upgrading several existing factories to manufacture its next-generation 22-nanometer microprocessors, Morales said.
“We need to have the investment behind it to be ready for it,” he said.
In the past 4-5 years, the company had a lot of re-use of its existing equipment, he said, adding Intel was also increasing its spending on research and development.
