Intel bags contract with Nokia to supply chips

Intel has seen a breakthrough in its effort to enter the mobile market, winning a contract to supply Nokia with processors. The deal is expected to be announced in a conference call with Anand Chandrasekher, senior vice president of the company’s ultra-mobility sector, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Although Intel’s microprocessors run in over 80% of the world’s PCs, the semiconductor giant has struggled for around a decade to make an entry into the cell phone chip market. As one might expect, Intel will be providing their Atom chip for the Nokia’s devices. The Atom has seen great success in other mobile computing areas, dominating the netbook segment. In 2006, Intel CEO Paul Otellini decided the company was too late to the market and ultimately ditched his predecessor’s $5 billion investment in mobile chips.

Things have changed now, though, and Otellini is pushing to gain foothold in the market as a means of lessening the company’s dependence on computers, which currently account for more than 90% of their sales. According to ABI Research, about 1.21 billion mobile phones were sold globally last year. Intel announced in February that it scored a contract with LG for mobile devices.