Intel Corp, which is building a US$2.5 billion semiconductor-production factory in China, is on schedule to begin production there by 2010, chairman Craig Barrett said. 

"You always make a decision to build a plant without a clear view of the economy, or even a clear view of the products that are going to run there," Barrett said in Davos, Switzerland, yesterday, where he's attending the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. "We are still on the same general schedule."

According to Bloomberg News, Intel, the world's largest computer-chip maker, announced its first manufacturing plant in Asia in March, Bloomberg News reported.

The factory will bring the total investment in China by the Santa Clara, California-based company to almost US$4 billion.

Intel already has plants for testing and assembling products in other parts of China.

(Shanghai Daily January 25, 2008)