The chips are the first in the world to be mass-produced with a 45-nanometer process. These chips are manufactured using 45 nanometer transistors, which were unveiled by Intel in January 2007.
Through this Penryn project, the company first aims to reduce the size of the existing chip designs and then work towards new blueprint, microarchitecture.
They are taking a successful product and making it smaller, and in the process of making it smaller, it gets faster, commneted Nathan Brookwood, an analyst with Insight 64, in an interview with Yahoo. Mr Brookwood also said that the new chips to be sold under Xeon and Core 2 brands would be able to run most software 15% faster than the existing speed.
By means of this technology, Intel claims to make more chips from a single platter of silicon, increase productivity and save capital investments which could cost about $3 billion.
The company expects to make the majority of its processors on 45 nanometer by the middle of 2008, mirroring the progress of its 65 nanometer products, said Tom Kilroy, general manager of enterprise group at Intel.
The mass production of new chips manufactured under the Penryn project is expected to provide Intel an advantage over its rival AMD which is making chips on 65 nanometers and have plans to roll out 45 nanometer technologies in 2008.
Intel is expected to sell a dozen versions of the chips for server computers that power corporate networks with price ranging between $177 and $1,279. Another version for high-end consumers such as gaming enthusiasts will sell for $999.
In its strategy to enhance processors, Intel unveiled Dual-Core Intel Itanium Processor 9100 series processors in October 2007. The company expects that these chips will be used for managing high-end applications and improve reliability, while reducing power consumption. These sixth generation 9100 series Itanium chips are believed to support ongoing shift from RISC products to the features offered by Itanium-based servers.
Source: ComputerWire daily updates
