Indonesian Political, Business & Finance News

Intel Keen on Increasing Local Presence

| | Source: JG
Plummeting demand for computers and slumping industry profits aside, the world’s biggest chipmaker, Intel, says it is committed to expanding its presence in Indonesia.

Founded in 1968 and based in Santa Clara, California, Intel saw its first-quarter net profit tumble to $647 million from $1.4 billion in the year-earlier period, although the company claims that computer sales have bottomed out and are now recovering. For /full year 2008, Intel posted net income of $5.3 billion.

Despite the downturn, Anjan Ghosh, Intel Technology Asia’s regional director of corporate affairs for Asia Pacific, told the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday that Intel has no intention of reducing its focus on Indonesia.

“Intel is committed to Indonesia, not only this year, but also in the years ahead as a continuation of what we have being doing over the last few years,” he said.

Ghosh said that Intel, through Intel Indonesia, is working closely with the Indonesian Chamber and Commerce and Industry (Kadin) to prepare a road map for the development of the information and communications technology industry (ICT), which would be submitted to the next government.

“Through its participation in the business sector and corporate social responsibility programs in Indonesia, the company has seen the need to accelerate the development of information and telecommunications infrastructure,” he said.

Ghosh said that while Indonesia was on the right track, there was still a lot of work to be done if the country wanted to be able to harness the huge opportunities available. This includes the construction of the necessary infrastructure. He also said that education was one of the main priorities of Intel’s corporate social responsibility effort.

“Through the Intel Teach Program, the company has trained 1.1 million teachers this year [around the world], bringing the total number of teachers trained globally, including those in Indonesia, to over six million since the program’s inception,” he said.

Speaking on Monday at a workshop on the future direction of the domestic ICT industry, Anindya Bakrie, deputy chairman of Kadin’s ICT committee, said that the chamber hailed the role of Intel Indonesia in developing the domestic sector.

The country’s ICT sector has shown rapid growth over the last few years, he said, and was expected to expand by as much as 10 percent this year despite the crisis.

Budi Waluyo Jati, Intel Indonesia’s country manager, said that the level of development of a nation’s ICT sector was frequently used as an indicator to judge the overall stage of development.
Tags: business
View JSON | Print