At the Spring IDF 2008 held in Shanghai last week, senior Intel executives were rolled out to eulogise about the economic benefits of investing in China.

Now, Intel Capital, the investment division of the semiconductor giant, is adding a second China-oriented fund to its portfolio.

The first, created in 2005, was endowed with $200m (£100m), and Intel Capital used it to promote and finance nascent technologies and companies that it hoped would generate extensive revenue streams in the future.

The second fund, with an additional $500m (£250m) in the pot, is aimed at leveraging the benefits of 'world-class' research and execution into a slew of booming technologies, including telecommunications and networking.

Thinking about it for a moment, it's scary that the investment division of Intel can drop $700m into an eclectic range of investments in to China. What AMD would give to have that kind of cash floating around, we wonder.