In a bid to groom the next generation of chip designers and embedded software developers, Intel Corporation Tuesday announced expanding its multi-core programme to 37 universities across China.

The university programme provides students training in multi-core technology for a career as a developer in the global IT industry.

Announcing the course at the Intel Development Forum (IDF) here, Intel China president Wee Theng Tan said the $35-billion chipmaker was committed to advancing innovation and cultivating talent in the country.

"Going forward, we will extend the partnership to 32 more universities for designing multi-core curriculum, research and training programmes. The joint multi-core labs, being set up in all the 37 universities, will help integrate multi-core technology in teaching and research to create talent adaptive to the digital era," Wee told delegates at the forum at the Beijing international convention centre.

The programme will also support China's higher education quality project and help accelerate integration of advanced technology into the emerging software segment in the IT industry.

"To attract talent and popularise the educational scheme, we have unveiled a national multi-core programming contest with a top prize of RMB 50,000 ($6500). We intend to promote multi-core based software programming capabilities among undergraduate students and technology buffs," Wee said.

Over the next 12 months, the company also plans to spread the multi-core curriculum programmes to about 200 universities across Asia and 400 varsities worldwide.

In the last two decades since Intel forayed into China, the company has been associating with education programmes from K-12 (higher secondary), with focus on tech workshops to teacher trainings.