Intel invests $10m in UK's Bookham Technology

Bookham Technology, which produces optical networking technology, has received a $10m equity investment from chip giant Intel.

The Oxfordshire-based company designs and manufactures devices aimed at the telecoms sector, which are based on a technology it calls Asoc. Asoc uses silicon and allows the type of automated production line that ASICs (Applied Specific Integrated Circuits) used in computing have long enjoyed.

A month ago, Cisco Systems also took a $10m stake in the company - a move which raised Bookham's profile on the high-tech landscape. Bookham president and CEO, Dr Andrew Rickman, told Silicon.com: "We're not just talking about one company's modest venture fund making a punt. This is a significant combination of investments which say something about where we are."

Rickman also said the investments - from the world's largest chip maker and largest seller of data networking equipment - bring more to the company than further institutional investment. Bookham's more established investors include venture capital firm 3i.

He denied further investment had been curtailed by the current turmoil memory chip makers are going through, and the uncertainty facing many networking companies.

Bookham owns its own small fabrication facility in Oxfordshire, but Rickman said the company is not ruling out the future use of CMOS fabs owned by Intel.