Chip manufacturer Intel said today it will invest $500m (£251m) in Taiwan over the next five years.

Intel's Taiwan investment will largely be targeted at investing in the lucrative WiMax market, expected to be fully developed in Asia by 2010.

WiMax is a long distance version of Wi-Fi technology, allowing anyway with a laptop to access broadband content up to 30 miles away from a transmitter.

Late last year, Taiwan's government said it planned to spend $664m (£334m) in the next few years on developing WiMax technology, hoping it will boost R&D and collaboration in the economy.

The news comes in the same month that Intel's investment arm, Intel capital, announced it will invest $500m (£251m) in communications projects in China and just days after Cisco expanded its $16bn investment plans with the Chinese government.