HANGZHOU: Intel Corporation, the top global chipmaker, opened a software innovation and support center in this capital city of East China's Zhejiang Province yesterday as part of its efforts to tap the nation's fast expanding software industry.

With IT expenditure of $43.9 billion and an annual growth rate of 27 percent in software spending, China's PC industry is a prime market for the chipmaker.

Intel Capital, its global investment arm, announced yesterday an investment of $10.5 million in a local industrial automation technology provider.

The investment will help Zhejiang Supcon Technology Co, a subsidiary of Hangzhou-based Supcon Group, further penetrate the market and enhance its ability to provide automation solutions worldwide.

Announcing its plan to build a $2.5 billion semiconductor plant in the northeastern city of Dalian, earlier this year, Intel became one of the largest foreign investors in China and raised its total investment in the country to nearly $4 billion.

"Being close to customers and partners in China is one of our top priorities," said the company's global CEO Paul Otellini in Hangzhou yesterday.

Zhejiang Province, which produces 10,000 software graduates every year and is home to approximately 1,000 software companies, is an example of a perfect software innovation hub, he said.

The innovation and support center is expected to become one of the largest software testing and validating centers in Asia.