Intel Enters Market for Fiber-Optic Chips

Intel Corp. has started designing and building customized chips for fiber-optic networks, taking the world’s biggest maker of computer processors into a market controlled by JDS Uniphase Corp.

The company, based in Santa Clara, Calif., has devised chips that filter and direct light signals that beam information through networks, creating a new business called planar photonics. The idea is to replace some bulky, labor-intensive parts with cheaper, smaller semiconductors.

Intel, which has been trying to increase sales of chips for communications gear, conducts internal research in lasers and light for its processor unit and made a series of purchases starting in 1999 to bolster its optical expertise. Now the chip maker is adding photonics to broaden its lineup.