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Intel teams up with China's Baidu

Deal is set to extend Baidu search services beyond the PC to handsets and household devices.

Candace Lombardi
In a software-driven world, it's easy to forget about the nuts and bolts. Whether it's cars, robots, personal gadgetry or industrial machines, Candace Lombardi examines the moving parts that keep our world rotating. A journalist who divides her time between the United States and the United Kingdom, Lombardi has written about technology for the sites of The New York Times, CNET, USA Today, MSN, ZDNet, Silicon.com, and GameSpot. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not a current employee of CNET.
Candace Lombardi
Chinese search giant Baidu is partnering with Intel's China subsidiary to develop Internet applications for a variety of computing devices.

The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on optimizing search applications for Intel products, Baidu announced Thursday. The chipmaker is already Baidu's server platform provider.

In addition to PCs, users will soon be able to access Baidu search services on their handsets and household devices, the company said.

Baidu, a Chinese-language search service, faces mounting competition from global search heavyweights, including Google and Yahoo.

The partnership aims to capitalize on Baidu's popularity and enhance Intel's campaign to bring digital-media sharing into the home.

"Baidu is the most frequently used search engine in China (and has) an enormous user base. Its high traffic volume requires the highest standard of performance and stability in its server platform," Thomas Kilroy, an Intel vice president, said in a statement.

In Taiwan, meanwhile, Intel has been working with electronics makers in a campaign for standard components and thus less-expensive notebooks.