Intel: Our tablet strategy is paying off

Chip maker paid vendors to use its wares

Intel has insisted it is now a "real" tablet maker after its plan to pay manufacturers to use its chips has paid off.

Earlier this year, Intel's chief executive Brian Krzanich set out his ambition for 40 million of his firm's chips to be used in tablets this year, up from 10 million in 2013.

As part of the plan, it coughs up for some of the initial engineering costs manufacturers using its wares incur, in the hope the firms will continue to use them for future products, Reuters reports.

Ahead of the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, Krzanich said its unusual route to the tablet market was paying off.

"We've made good progress getting into tablets," he said. "We've gone from nothing to something where I consider us a real tablet manufacturer."

Reuters added that while Krzanich remained tight-lipped on exactly how much the firm was spending on its scheme to encourage the use of its chips, he said he hoped to avoid having to pay out similar amounts to achieve similar success in the smartphone space, which he is hoping to take by storm next year.

Smart devices is not the only area Intel is pushing into – earlier this week it jumped aboard the wearable tech bandwagon when it partnered with US design firm Fossil.

Together, the duo plan to work together to create "emerging products... for the fashion-oriented consumer".

Intel added it was keen to participate in the wearable tech space, but in "a fashionable way".