Intel missed the boat on mobile, and it may be facing a fight from ARM-based chips in the data center, but the chip giant isn’t going to sit back and lick its wounds. It is actively reaching out to the burgeoning maker and connected device crowd with development boards, it launched a new chip designed for the internet of things and it purchased an API management company. It is also going after a less sexy but still large market that seems ripe for some x86 chips — telecommunications.

Intel wants its chips inside the switches, routers and base stations that are the workhorses of the telecommunications network, even if it means making some sacrifices. To meet telecom’s requirements it will have to partner with another chip firm to get the right kind of processing power for base stations and change its focus from integrating everything into one…