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US chipmaker Intel is hoping Chinese tablet manufacturers will help save it from being crushed by the slow demise of the PC.
美国芯片制造商英特尔(Intel)希望借助中国平板电脑厂商之力，摆脱被慢慢消亡的个人电脑(PC)市场拖垮的命运。
Intel’s chips dominate the PC market but are all but absent from smartphones and tablets. Brian Krzanich, who took over as chief executive nearly a year ago, is determined to change that, with the help of China’s multitude of low-cost brands.
英特尔的芯片虽称霸PC市场，却在智能手机和平板电脑市场交了白卷。将近一年前接任英特尔首席执行官的科再奇(Brian Krzanich，见右图)，决心借中国众多低端品牌之力改变上述局面。
“We’ve been known as ‘The guys inside the PC and, yeah, they do the data centre too’, but what we’re really trying to show is that we’re going to go across the spectrum of computing products,” Mr Krzanich told hundreds of Chinese computing executives and enthusiasts in a keynote address delivered in front of a bank of tablet computers earlier this month.
本月早些时候，科再奇站在一堆平板电脑前，向数百名中国计算机业高管和爱好者发表了一场主题演讲。他在演讲中说：“我们一直被称作‘做PC部件的家伙，哦对，这些家伙还做数据中心’。但我们现在想努力展现的是，我们打算进军各类计算机产品。”
A bigger presence in smartphones and tablets is key for Intel as the PC market continues to shrink. Analysts expect the company to report revenue of $12.8bn, up 1.9 per cent year on year.
由于PC市场不断缩水，在智能手机和平板电脑市场占据更大地盘对英特尔来说至关重要。分析师预计，该公司财报将显示，今年一季度营收为128亿美元，同比增长1.9%。
An estimated 300m tablets will be made this year, and Mr Krzanich wants Intel’s chips in 40m of them, or “four times growth” for his company. Of those 300m, Intel projects that 100m will be made by companies in Shenzhen and its environs, meaning Mr Krzanich must win over the manufacturers he was in town to meet.
据估计，今年平板电脑产量将达3亿台，科再奇希望其中4000万台搭载英特尔芯片，即这块业务的业绩“增长三倍”。在这3亿台平板电脑中，英特尔预计有1亿台将由深圳及其周边地区的企业制造，这意味着科再奇必须赢得他在深圳会晤的这些制造商的支持。
To do so, he showed off Intel’s new chips, which fit the locally made cheap tablets that retail for around $100. Intel says its processors may cost more than rivals’, but that their superior quality will win customers for the tablet makers.
为此，他展示了英特尔的新款芯片。该芯片适用于当地制造的廉价平板电脑，它们的零售价约为100美元。英特尔表示，自己的处理器可能比竞争对手贵，但其卓越的品质将为这些平板电脑制造商赢得消费者的青睐。
“Growth rates [in tablets] are high. It’s no surprise that everyone wants to be here,” says Hermann Eul, Intel’s general manager for mobile and communications. “This space has always been very competitive”.
“（平板电脑）增长速度很快，也难怪大家都想挤进来。”英特尔移动和通信部门总经理赫尔曼•奥伊尔(Hermann Eul)说，“这个领域向来竞争激烈。”
But analysts say it will be a difficult feat. Intel has to beat out the local chip companies, which have far cheaper prices, better relations with nearby manufacturers, and a history of specialising in tablets and smartphones – the types of chips Intel has not historically been known for designing.
但分析师表示，这将是一个艰巨的任务。英特尔必须击败当地的芯片企业，这些企业不但产品价格远低于英特尔、与周围厂商关系更好，而且长期专注于平板电脑和智能手机——在这些领域，英特尔历来就不是什么知名的芯片设计商。
These days, practically anyone can order a customised tablet – even Applebee’s, an American restaurant chain, has tablet menus, while UK supermarket chain Tesco has its own tablets. Many of those are made by no-name factories that take orders for as few as 5,000 units and can turn them around in a week.
现如今，几乎人人都能订购定制版平板电脑，连美国连锁餐厅Applebee's都使用平板电脑菜单，英国连锁超市乐购(Tesco)也拥有自己的平板电脑。这些平板电脑多出自无名厂商，它们可以承接低到5000台的订单，只需一周即可交货。
So far, Intel’s designs are in 30 different tablets, under brand names such as Teclast, Aigo, and Ramos in China, Positivo in Brazil, and Casper in Turkey, all of which emerge from Shenzhen factories.
迄今为止，英特尔设计的芯片已搭载到30款平板电脑上，这些平板电脑的品牌有中国的台电(Teclast)、爱国者(Aigo)和蓝魔(Ramos)、巴西的Positivo以及土耳其的Casper等，所有这些产品均出产于深圳的工厂。
Many analysts say that making further headway will be difficult, however.
但许多分析师表示，英特尔想在平板电脑市场更上一层楼是很不容易的。
The chip market that Mr Krzanich wants to win over is being led by companies like China’s Rockchip and Taiwan’s MediaTek. The latter is already known for revolutionising the smartphone industry by supplying Chinese manufacturers with the chips and nearly complete engineering designs that let them churn out the cheap smartphones now flooding China and other emerging markets.
科再奇想争取的芯片市场，目前的领跑者是中国大陆的瑞芯微(Rockchip)和台湾的联发科(MediaTek)。联发科早已因引爆智能手机产业革命而闻名，它向中国厂商提供芯片和几乎整套工程设计，使后者能够生产出大量廉价智能手机，这些智能手机如今正席卷中国和其他新兴市场。
To ramp up the fight with them, Intel has created a smart device innovation centre in Shenzhen and launched a $100m innovation fund, part of Intel Capital, the company’s venture capital arm.
为提升竞争力，英特尔已在深圳成立智能设备创新中心，并设立总额1亿美元的“中国智能设备创新基金”，隶属于该公司风险投资部门“英特尔投资”(Intel Capital)。
The company will not say how it is doing, citing a silent period before first-quarter results are released on Tuesday. One analyst who asked not to be identified says the numbers “are not where they should be”.
英特尔将于本周二发布一季度财报，该公司以目前处于缄默期为由不愿透露其现在的状况。一名要求匿名的分析师表示，财报数据“不如预期”。
Pricing is part of the challenge. Intel’s tablet processors sell for around $30-$50 globally, estimates Romit Shah, an analyst with Nomura. In China, Rockchip and others are selling those for $5-$10 each.
定价也是挑战的一部分。野村(Nomura)分析师罗米特•沙阿(Romit Shah)估计，英特尔平板电脑处理器全球售价在30美元到50美元左右。而在中国，瑞芯微等公司的同样产品售价仅为5美元到10美元一个。
“Very few chip companies can make money in this market,” says Mr Shah.
沙阿说：“没有几家芯片公司能在这个市场上赚到钱。”
Intel is gaining some share by subsidising certain manufacturers, says Mark Li, an analyst with Bernstein in Hong Kong. Notably, he says, it is having success with companies that have historically been PC makers, such as Lenovo and Asus, which are now also transitioning into the tablet market.
伯恩斯坦(Bernstein)驻香港分析师Mark Li说，英特尔通过补贴部分厂商，市场份额有所增加。尤其是，英特尔已与此前一直从事PC生产的厂商成功建立合作，如联想(Lenovo)和华硕(Asus)，这两家公司现在也在转型进军平板电脑市场。
If Intel does not do as well as it hopes to in the fastest growing tablet market, says Mr Shah, it will not “make or break” Intel. Apart from tablets, Intel is also trying to improve its share in smartphones, networking products, and even wearable devices, in hope of balancing out the declining PC business.
沙阿表示，就算英特尔在快速增长的平板电脑市场表现不如预期，也不会沦落到“不成功便成仁”的境地。除了平板电脑，英特尔还在努力提高自己在智能手机、网络产品乃至可穿戴设备市场的份额，希望借此抵消PC业务不断衰落的影响。
“If they’re not successful in tablets, the model won’t unravel, but that’s one offset [to the PC decline] that goes away,” he says.
他说：“即使他们没能在平板电脑市场取得成功，这套模式也不会瓦解，只不过将丧失抵消（PC业务衰落的）一支力量。”
