Intel's $600 million Investment In HypeMAX Paying Off

from the make-the-bubble-bigger dept

Fri, Jul 14th 2006 9:55am — Carlo Longino

Intel's throwing a lot of money at WiMAX -- not just to fund its own efforts, but to almost singlehandedly prop up the market in an effort to ensure it will have some customers. It started a joint venture with a UK ISP to build a WiMAX network there, and has even funded rival WiMAX chipmakers. Those investments pale in comparison to its most recent one where it pumped $600 million into Craig McCaw's Clearwire WiMAX operator. This huge investment negated the need for Clearwire to continue with plans to go public, after its IPO announcement raised a lot of questions. But it looks like Intel's cash injection is already having its intended effect, as BusinessWeek anoints Clearwire as the next big thing in broadband access, taking all the as yet unproven claims about WiMAX to heart, without touching on any of the plethora of questions surrounding the company, its viability and the reception its IPO was getting on Wall Street. Which is just the kind of hype Intel likes for WiMAX, and was hoping its investment would generate.

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22 Comments

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anonymous coward, 14 Jul 2006 @ 9:57am

just to piss off the first haters...

first!
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Floyd, 14 Jul 2006 @ 10:18am

second!!
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Jul 2006 @ 10:19am

retard!!!
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just so you know, 14 Jul 2006 @ 10:19am

Floyd,

Second place is first loser
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just so you know, 14 Jul 2006 @ 10:19am

Floyd,

Second place is first loser
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Bob W, 14 Jul 2006 @ 10:26am

This is juvenile
Why not post something relevant to the topic :rolleyes

Like where did Intel stash $600 million to "pump" into WiMAX ro why is it so important to them?
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jimmy dean, 14 Jul 2006 @ 10:35am

theyll never beat AMD.......
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Jul 2006 @ 10:45am

Re:
last time i checked they wer beating AMD NOW.
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Yakov, 14 Jul 2006 @ 10:56am

Easy
They fired a bunch of people and found 600 mill to invest into this nonsence.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Jul 2006 @ 11:34am

Re: This is juvenile
They make WiMAX chipsets. If there is no WiMAX providers, then there are not customers and therefore no need for the chipsets. They've already put a lot of money into the technology. They don't want to see it just fall by the wayside.

I don't see why anyone should be complaining. It is going to pur pressure on the traditional ISPs. WiMAX is young and still has a lot of potential, so the ISPs are going to have to start looking forward at how they are going to compete. And whenever companies compete, consumers win.
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WirelessGuy, 14 Jul 2006 @ 11:39am

First spend, then fire
Interesting how this gets good press, then they state that they are firing 1,000 managers...

Don't you hate that they save $1B by getting rid of humans to invest $600M in a product that will more than likely flop? Then more people will get fired and all of us technical people will end up working McDs....
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JerseyRich, 14 Jul 2006 @ 12:52pm

Life is Tough
If you're good enough, you won't get fired. Or, if you have bad luck, you might.

Even if you do, if you're good enough, you'll get another job soon. If you don't or can't, you probably suck (in one way or another).

Lesson here? Get skills, use them, be confident and capable, and you'll never be out of work for long.
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lay person, 14 Jul 2006 @ 2:26pm

Bored
HA HA!

I'm Last!
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Jul 2006 @ 2:39pm

Re: Life is Tough
wohoo, at least ONE person thats commented thus far understands business :)

To everyone else, yes, welfare and pinko-socialist economics must sound nice, warm and fuzzy. Jobs for everybody!
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Night of the Night is Nigh, 14 Jul 2006 @ 2:55pm

Uh Huh..
No,

I AM!!

:P
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Night of the Night is Nigh, 14 Jul 2006 @ 2:57pm

:(
Damn it! Anonymous Coward beat me to it!
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Dumb, 14 Jul 2006 @ 3:27pm

Re: Life is Tough
That might be the dumbest thing I have heard in a long time
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Jay, 14 Jul 2006 @ 3:41pm

Get off your high horses
I am getting sick and tired of Tech dirt's trashing clearwire. I am a clearwire customer and I am very happy with the service. I have not enountered any major problem since I signed up in January of this year. And It's a whole lot faster than dial up.

So stop trashing Clearwire and give it a chance. I'm happy that a company like Intel sees the value of this company and other WiMax companies.

Tech Dirt, get off your high horses.
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my, myself, and i, 15 Jul 2006 @ 10:11pm

yeah...someone sounds like a little baby, or a spammer.

but they aren't neccissarily trashing clearwire as they are showing the stupidity of intel in this useless race for the 'next big thing'
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dude, 18 Jul 2006 @ 4:32am

last post
YEAH
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Brian, 28 Oct 2006 @ 9:27pm

Let me do the math for you.
If Intel corners the market in WiMax chips, they can sell them to computer retailers like Dell. So when someone gets a brand new laptop they are already hooked up for High-Speed internet wherever they go. (eventually) Clearwire is building the network, so Intel invested money in them... Get it now?

Intel Chips + Clearwire's Network = WiMax = $$$

There ya go. As for Intel canning people to come up with the $, sorry to tell ya thats just life.
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Steve, 15 Mar 2007 @ 8:12pm

Re: Get off your high horses
I agree!!! When the Clearwire stock falls to 17.00 per share BUY!!! As soon as we complete the Washington-Balto build the Clearwire will climb to 41.00 per share.
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