NEC, Intel agree to tie up

NEC, Intel agree to tie up

TOKYO (AFP): Japan's NEC Corp. said Wednesday it has agreed a business tie-up with its rival Intel Corp. to develop their Internet businesses.

NEC's Biglobe Internet service would be linked with the US firm's venture Intel Online Services Inc., which provides business transactions across the Internet.

Intel Online plans to build an Internet service center with NEC in Japan to start operating early next year. The US firm already has two service centers for Intel Online, both in California.

NEC, the world's second biggest semiconductor maker after Intel, said it wants to have more than 10 million Internet subscribers by 2002.

The Japanese firm is in the middle of a major restructuring effort under which it said it will focus its energies on the Internet.