英特爾不甘落寞 向中國平板電腦廠商求助

US chipmaker Intel is hoping Chinese tablet manufacturers will help save it from being crushed by the slow demise of the PC.

美國芯片製造商英特爾(Intel)希望藉助中國平板電腦廠商之力，擺脫被慢慢消亡的個人電腦(PC)市場拖垮的命運。

Intel’s chips dominate the PC market but are all but absent from smartphones and tablets. Brian Krzanich, who took over as chief executive nearly a year ago, is determined to change that, with the help of China’s multitude of low-cost brands.

英特爾的芯片雖稱霸PC市場，卻在智能手機和平板電腦市場交了白卷。將近一年前接任英特爾首席執行官的科再奇(Brian Krzanich，見右圖)，決心借中國衆多低端品牌之力改變上述局面。

“We’ve been known as ‘The guys inside the PC and, yeah, they do the data centre too’, but what we’re really trying to show is that we’re going to go across the spectrum of computing products,” Mr Krzanich told hundreds of Chinese computing executives and enthusiasts in a keynote address delivered in front of a bank of tablet computers earlier this month.

本月早些時候，科再奇站在一堆平板電腦前，向數百名中國計算機業高管和愛好者發表了一場主題演講。他在演講中說：“我們一直被稱作‘做PC部件的傢伙，哦對，這些傢伙還做數據中心’。但我們現在想努力展現的是，我們打算進軍各類計算機產品。”

A bigger presence in smartphones and tablets is key for Intel as the PC market continues to shrink. Analysts expect the company to report revenue of $12.8bn, up 1.9 per cent year on year.

由於PC市場不斷縮水，在智能手機和平板電腦市場佔據更大地盤對英特爾來說至關重要。分析師預計，該公司財報將顯示，今年一季度營收爲128億美元，同比增長1.9%。

An estimated 300m tablets will be made this year, and Mr Krzanich wants Intel’s chips in 40m of them, or “four times growth” for his company. Of those 300m, Intel projects that 100m will be made by companies in Shenzhen and its environs, meaning Mr Krzanich must win over the manufacturers he was in town to meet.

據估計，今年平板電腦產量將達3億臺，科再奇希望其中4000萬臺搭載英特爾芯片，即這塊業務的業績“增長三倍”。在這3億臺平板電腦中，英特爾預計有1億臺將由深圳及其周邊地區的企業製造，這意味着科再奇必須贏得他在深圳會晤的這些製造商的支持。

To do so, he showed off Intel’s new chips, which fit the locally made cheap tablets that retail for around $100. Intel says its processors may cost more than rivals’, but that their superior quality will win customers for the tablet makers.

爲此，他展示了英特爾的新款芯片。該芯片適用於當地製造的廉價平板電腦，它們的零售價約爲100美元。英特爾表示，自己的處理器可能比競爭對手貴，但其卓越的品質將爲這些平板電腦製造商贏得消費者的青睞。

“Growth rates [in tablets] are high. It’s no surprise that everyone wants to be here,” says Hermann Eul, Intel’s general manager for mobile and communications. “This space has always been very competitive”.

“（平板電腦）增長速度很快，也難怪大家都想擠進來。”英特爾移動和通信部門總經理赫爾曼•奧伊爾(Hermann Eul)說，“這個領域向來競爭激烈。”

But analysts say it will be a difficult feat. Intel has to beat out the local chip companies, which have far cheaper prices, better relations with nearby manufacturers, and a history of specialising in tablets and smartphones – the types of chips Intel has not historically been known for designing.

但分析師表示，這將是一個艱鉅的任務。英特爾必須擊敗當地的芯片企業，這些企業不但產品價格遠低於英特爾、與周圍廠商關係更好，而且長期專注於平板電腦和智能手機——在這些領域，英特爾歷來就不是什麼知名的芯片設計商。

These days, practically anyone can order a customised tablet – even Applebee’s, an American restaurant chain, has tablet menus, while UK supermarket chain Tesco has its own tablets. Many of those are made by no-name factories that take orders for as few as 5,000 units and can turn them around in a week.

現如今，幾乎人人都能訂購定製版平板電腦，連美國連鎖餐廳Applebee's都使用平板電腦菜單，英國連鎖超市樂購(Tesco)也擁有自己的平板電腦。這些平板電腦多出自無名廠商，它們可以承接低到5000臺的訂單，只需一週即可交貨。

So far, Intel’s designs are in 30 different tablets, under brand names such as Teclast, Aigo, and Ramos in China, Positivo in Brazil, and Casper in Turkey, all of which emerge from Shenzhen factories.

迄今爲止，英特爾設計的芯片已搭載到30款平板電腦上，這些平板電腦的品牌有中國的臺電(Teclast)、愛國者(Aigo)和藍魔(Ramos)、巴西的Positivo以及土耳其的Casper等，所有這些產品均出產於深圳的工廠。

Many analysts say that making further headway will be difficult, however.

但許多分析師表示，英特爾想在平板電腦市場更上一層樓是很不容易的。

The chip market that Mr Krzanich wants to win over is being led by companies like China’s Rockchip and Taiwan’s MediaTek. The latter is already known for revolutionising the smartphone industry by supplying Chinese manufacturers with the chips and nearly complete engineering designs that let them churn out the cheap smartphones now flooding China and other emerging markets.

科再奇想爭取的芯片市場，目前的領跑者是中國大陸的瑞芯微(Rockchip)和臺灣的聯發科(MediaTek)。聯發科早已因引爆智能手機產業革命而聞名，它向中國廠商提供芯片和幾乎整套工程設計，使後者能夠生產出大量廉價智能手機，這些智能手機如今正席捲中國和其他新興市場。

To ramp up the fight with them, Intel has created a smart device innovation centre in Shenzhen and launched a $100m innovation fund, part of Intel Capital, the company’s venture capital arm.

爲提升競爭力，英特爾已在深圳成立智能設備創新中心，並設立總額1億美元的“中國智能設備創新基金”，隸屬於該公司風險投資部門“英特爾投資”(Intel Capital)。

The company will not say how it is doing, citing a silent period before first-quarter results are released on Tuesday. One analyst who asked not to be identified says the numbers “are not where they should be”.

英特爾將於本週二發佈一季度財報，該公司以目前處於緘默期爲由不願透露其現在的狀況。一名要求匿名的分析師表示，財報數據“不如預期”。

Pricing is part of the challenge. Intel’s tablet processors sell for around $30-$50 globally, estimates Romit Shah, an analyst with Nomura. In China, Rockchip and others are selling those for $5-$10 each.

定價也是挑戰的一部分。野村(Nomura)分析師羅米特•沙阿(Romit Shah)估計，英特爾平板電腦處理器全球售價在30美元到50美元左右。而在中國，瑞芯微等公司的同樣產品售價僅爲5美元到10美元一個。

“Very few chip companies can make money in this market,” says Mr Shah.

沙阿說：“沒有幾家芯片公司能在這個市場上賺到錢。”

Intel is gaining some share by subsidising certain manufacturers, says Mark Li, an analyst with Bernstein in Hong Kong. Notably, he says, it is having success with companies that have historically been PC makers, such as Lenovo and Asus, which are now also transitioning into the tablet market.

伯恩斯坦(Bernstein)駐香港分析師Mark Li說，英特爾通過補貼部分廠商，市場份額有所增加。尤其是，英特爾已與此前一直從事PC生產的廠商成功建立合作，如聯想(Lenovo)和華碩(Asus)，這兩家公司現在也在轉型進軍平板電腦市場。

If Intel does not do as well as it hopes to in the fastest growing tablet market, says Mr Shah, it will not “make or break” Intel. Apart from tablets, Intel is also trying to improve its share in smartphones, networking products, and even wearable devices, in hope of balancing out the declining PC business.

沙阿表示，就算英特爾在快速增長的平板電腦市場表現不如預期，也不會淪落到“不成功便成仁”的境地。除了平板電腦，英特爾還在努力提高自己在智能手機、網絡產品乃至可穿戴設備市場的份額，希望藉此抵消PC業務不斷衰落的影響。

“If they’re not successful in tablets, the model won’t unravel, but that’s one offset [to the PC decline] that goes away,” he says.

他說：“即使他們沒能在平板電腦市場取得成功，這套模式也不會瓦解，只不過將喪失抵消（PC業務衰落的）一支力量。”