BMW and Intel announce partnership

Integrated circuits giant Intel and BMW have announced a partnership that is said to range from support for the automaker’s motorsports activities to standards for in-car use of mobile computers and cell phones.

As the article points out, semiconductor companies have been eager to use motorsports as a marketing tool (Motorola’s sponsorship of Cadillac’s LeMans program is a notable example missed in the article), but this would appear to have some potential to go beyond that, despite Intel’s small presence (at least relative to its dominance of the PC market) in the automotive electronics sector