China Tells Intel To Calm Down

A Chinese official said Thursday that Intel should "calm down" after a spokesperson for the chipmaker said the company would not produce WLAN chips that adhere to a proprietary security standard required by the Chinese government.

China has mandated that all WLAN equipment sold in that country after June 1 adhere to the Wired Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure (WAPI) security protocol that is controlled by about two dozen Chinese companies. Intel said earlier this week it would not comply, but a Chinese official quoted in the U.K.'s Financial Times said that was a bad decision.

"China is such a strategic market," an unnamed official of the government-supported group was quoted as saying. "I think Intel should calm down."

Intel said that it would not support the standard because it had not found a way to do so and maintain the quality of its products. Another Wi-Fi chipmaker, Broadcom, complained that compliance would require it to share proprietary information with the Chinese organizations.

The official noted that Intel's decision meant that laptops with Centrino wireless technology, which are widely popular throughout the rest of the world, couldn't be sold in China. He also was quoted by the Financial Times as saying that the Chinese government is right."I don't see any reason why the Chinese government should retreat on this," the official said.