Intel's investment of up to $1.5bil in two fast-growing Chinese mobile chipmakers has effectively aligned the U.S. giant with a third party - a Beijing government intent on producing a viable domestic challenger to the likes of Qualcomm and Samsung.

For more than a decade, China has targeted semiconductor design and manufacture as a major focus of its industrial policy. Activity has picked up markedly over the past year with a spate of cross-border mergers and cooperation deals.