Santa Clara, Calif. – Intel
today announced the creation of an Ultrabook fund to help drive innovation in
this new category.
The $300 million Intel Capital Ultrabook Fund is backed through
Intel Capital, the company’s global investment arm. The money will be invested
in companies building hardware and software based around the Ultrabook.
This is an attempt by Intel to prime the Ultrabook pump so it can
quickly see quick adoption, which will then drive down prices of the devices
and processors.
Ultrabook is a category Intel is trying to create that will
feature laptops that have all the performance of a desktop. Ultrabooks are
considered a “no compromise” computer, allowing consumers to use them for any
computing need.
The concept was unveiled in Taiwan at Computex earlier this year.
Intel has unveiled several prototype Ultrabooks, and it expects
about six models to be available worldwide for sale for the 2011 holiday
season. Starting prices will be in the $1,000 range.
An additional batch of devices is expected to be released in
mid-2012 featuring Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors.
