Intel Buying WiMax Chips From TSMC

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., the world's largest contract chip maker, is producing wireless and WiMax-related chips for Intel Corp., the companies said on Wednesday.

Intel, the world's largest chip maker and a company always on the cutting edge of chip production technology, normally makes most of its own chips, but has farmed out the production of chipsets and other types of chips in the past, particularly when there is a spike in demand.

WiMax, which provides high-speed wireless Internet access, is a major technology that Intel has been promoting globally as a speedier replacement for the WiFi technology found in coffee shops and elsewhere.

The announcement named TSMC as one of Intel's preferred suppliers. It is the second year in a row that TSMC has made such chips, the companies said.