Fujitsu Limited and the Institute for Information Industry (III) of Taiwan today announced their agreement to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU), to establish a new company in Taiwan that will develop application platformsbased on WiMAX technology.

Institute for Information Industry (III) of Taiwan is a non-governmental organization jointly sponsored by the Taiwan government and private enterprises.

Through the joint venture, scheduled to be established in March 2008, it is anticipated that Fujitsu and III will significantly contribute to the development of the WiMAX industry in Taiwan.

A press conference and signing ceremony, attended by Taiwanese officials and executives of Fujitsu and III, were held in Tokyo today.

Leveraging Fujitsu's WiMAX SoC solutions and III's software technologies, the new joint venture will develop WiMAX application platforms and provide them to ODM vendors in Taiwan. With fully localized engineering support provided by the new company, such platforms will enable ODM vendors to achieve mass production of WiMAX equipment.

The new joint venture's initial target applications will include mobile WiMAX handsets, and femto/pico base stations.

Fujitsu is a founding board member of the WiMAX Forum, an industry-led, not-for-profit organization formed to certify and promote the compatibility and interoperability of broadband wireless products, with a goal to accelerate the introduction of such products into the marketplace. Fujitsu already ships mobile WiMAX SoC solutions targeting WiMAX Forum Wave 2 certification compliance, to various global customers.

The Taiwan government has been playing an important role in the M-Taiwan Project to promote the development of the WiMAX industry in Taiwan. The research and development projects under the M-Taiwan Project are conducted by III, other research institutes and several private companies.