Intel Invests $1 Billion More In WiMax To Promote Wireless Devices

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Intel Corp. (INTC) took a $1 billion step on Wednesday toward what it hopes will be a rich future for portable Internet-surfing devices powered by its technology.

The chip giant said Wednesday that its venture-investment arm, Intel Capital, will put $1 billion into a joint venture that aims to build a major new high- speed wireless Internet network - known as WiMax - across the U.S. using the combined assets of wireless provider Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) and Clearwire Corp. (CLWR).

The network eventually will allow laptops, a new breed of portable-computing devices that Intel calls mobile Internet devices, and smartphones to access the Internet from most anywhere in the country.

The model would be similar to those of cellphone and Research In Motion Ltd.'s (RIMM) BlackBerry services, and could untether consumers accustomed to getting rich Internet services only with computers in their homes and offices. It should also spark sales of the portable devices - and therefore Intel's chips. The companies in the venture expect a near-nationwide network with service in most of the U.S.'s top 200 markets by 2010 or 2011.

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