Intel Corp. on Wednesday said that design of its first mobile WiMAX baseband chip has been completed. The new chipset that supports both WiMAX and Wi-Fi was demonstrated at the 3G World Congress and Mobility Marketplace in Hong Kong, where Intel said that notebooks supporting both wireless broadband technologies are now a step closer.

Sean Maloney, executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer at Intel, showed an Intel Centrino Duo mobile technology-based laptop with mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e-2005), Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n), and high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) 3G capabilities successfully accessing the Internet at broadband speeds over a mobile WiMAX network.

The new WiMAX baseband chip, when combined with the company’s previously announced single-chip, multi-band WiMAX/Wi-Fi radio, creates a complete chipset called Intel WiMAX Connection 2300.

The completed design of the Intel WiMAX Connection 2300 brings Intel a step closer to an integrated wireless system-on-chip that will help drive WiMAX adoption by maximizing useable space in mobile devices.

Several years ago Intel expressed hopes to integrated WiMAX connectivity into laptops based on the code-named Napa platform, the current generation that is called Centrino Duo. Later on the plans were scrapped and only Intel’s forthcoming platform Centrino Pro formerly known as Santa Rosa, is expected to feature 3G connectivity.

“Intel continues to drive innovation in mobile broadband access by eliminating the seams that prevent ubiquitous wireless connectivity. The Intel WiMAX Connection 2300 will help speed the deployment of mobile WiMAX, and accelerate the availability of a new wave of ‘personal broadband’ laptops and mobile devices that deliver the real Internet,” said Mr. Maloney.