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merging markets, which house around 86 percent of the world’s population, are scaling up in importance for a multitude of multinational companies, not least those in the technology industry. Intel Corporation senior vice president and general manager for sales and marketing, Tom Kilroy, recently spoke with The Jakarta Post’s Mariel Grazella, on how the dynamism of the technology ecosystem in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s most populous and fastest-growing country, “represents the future of Intel”.

Question: Emerging markets have been fertile growth beds for technology companies. How does Indonesia, the fastest-growing economy in Southeast Asia, measure up for Intel?

Answer: Emerging markets are very exciting growth drivers for Intel, and it’s not just in terms of revenue growth and consumption.

Indonesia has been, out of all emerging markets, one of the consistently highest performing ones that we have. We still see strong double-digit growth in Indonesia this year and beyond. And when I talk about growth, I’m looking at the total available market [TAM] for personal computers [PC].

But the market is quite interesting for Intel not only for its PC area, but also when we look at the strong middle class and youth population, with the youth being such a driver of device purchasing, content creation and content consumption.

That’s what separates Indonesia from other emerging markets challenged by macroeconomic issues, and whose growth has slowed,

What specific areas are you looking into during your trip to this country?

I did not come here for ceremonial reasons. Emerging markets will represent well over half of the business of Intel in the future. We can’t just use profiles developed in the US and apply them across the world.

What I am experiencing here in Jakarta can help shape the strategy of where Intel is going in the world because this market represents where we want to grow our business — move across devices, appeal to the youth and do all this through new and developing channels.

The youth is such a major percentage of the [Indonesian] population that they are influencing the technology industry on how we develop [user] experience. So, we will work with our partners who are going to appeal to young consumers in Indonesia.

And what have you taken note of regarding the technology landscape in Indonesia?

Number one, this market stands out as being engaged in social networking. People are not only consuming content, people are sharing content.

I also think that malls and retail establishments merchandise and do their point of sales in ways that are appealing to the youth. Style really matters. The devices that youth carry around today are a statement about them.

That is why our Ultrabook initiative is around style and reinventing the PC.

And what will Intel bring into the Indonesian market in the near future?

When touch comes on Windows 8, the Ultrabook will be the best of two worlds. It will be a notebook when you need it and a tablet when you want it. So the [user] experience is going to change dramatically. You will see unprecedented innovation from more than 10 original equipment manufacturers [OEM] and at the same time, Ultrabook prices will start coming down as the devices enter mainstream price points.

When we set out with the Ultrabook initiative in June 2011, we had known that we were laying a vision on how we would reinvent the notebook. Phase one is on how we would bring more stylish notebooks into the market.

When Windows 8 enables touch, you will see really thin Ultrabook clamshells with touch, detachable Ultrabooks and Ultrabook convertibles. Our advertising campaign will reflect that. A year from now, the days of the notebook will have been behind us.

Around the corner, you will see smartphones with Intel inside. You are also going to see tablets coming to market, both in the Windows 8 world and Android world, with Intel inside and with price points from entry level and upward.

You have mentioned that you have learned that Indonesians use their devices to engage in online social networking. And since Intel is taking lessons from consumers, how does this major use of devices by consumers affect the design of Intel chips?

We have moved to an innovation called SOC — system on a chip. We are doing a much higher degree of innovation which will allow us to deliver great performance — something that we have always done both in computing and graphics — with incredibly efficient power. This will allow us to be very successful with handheld devices as well as ultra-thin tablets and notebooks.

Intel is a chip company. But we are more than that. We do our own transistors. We are also one of
the largest software companies in the world. We are the number
one contributor to open source [software]. We have actually surpassed Red Hat. So, we are a major player in software, hardware and transistors. If we put all that together, we are then able to deliver great experiences for consumers and businesses.

Any other investment plans here, such as establishing an assembly plant?

Our engagement here is with the ecosystem. We have no intentions to make an assembly plant or any kind of manufacturing here. Those [activities] themselves require an ecosystem.

We have Intel Capital initiatives that we are talking with various companies here. It is very likely that Intel Capital will be investing at the right time with different companies in the ecosystem here.