Chip maker Intel has set its eye on the lucrative laptop projects of various state governments.
A rough estimate indicate that around four million laptops are to be procured in the next couple of years by various State Governments with Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh leading the race. The cumulative investment is pegged at over Rs 15,000 crore.
Seizing the huge business opportunity, Intel has launched its A1018 CPU processor as a tailor-made solution targeted at such large tender-based education deals.
Intel designs and builds processors, motherboards, storage, mobile chips and technologies for various computing devices.
The new processor, which will be manufactured at Intel’s factories in the US, will not be sold through retail channels and is not meant for retail customers. The US major will tie up with personal computer manufacturers to have this processor in-built with laptops to be supplied to State Governments only, said B. Suryanarayanan, Director-Sales, Intel South Asia.
With this processor, Intel will extend its portfolio of product offerings and also provide additional flexibility for the manufacturers to build ‘competitive solutions’ that meet or exceed the performance requirements for education usages at various price points, he told Business Line . As these government-sponsored laptops are offered at a cheaper cost than the normal products available in the market, Intel’s customised processor has also been priced lower, he said without revealing the price. “We are targeting all the government projects, and are speaking to all the manufacturers,” he said.
Lenova, Acer, HP and HCL are some of the large players participating in the government projects.
Education solution
Intel is also going a step further. The A1018 CPU gives the manufacturers and the Government the choice to use the content stack around digital literacy, skill development, soft skills and entrepreneurship skills that comes with it. It will also work with manufacturers to make available a complete education solution for large deals.
The solution comprises relevant education content, productivity apps with local usage model. This is to enable OEM partners to offer a competitive solution aimed at meeting or exceeding the performance and usability criteria required by various State or central government departments in India, he said.