Intel launches 45nm chips
Beating AMD with more instructions and power savings
By Manek Dubash | Techworld | Published: 11:46, 23 January 2007
Intel has produced its first processor using 45nm technology, and now has working samples of the chips, with a million to be ready by the summer, CEO Paul Otellini has said.
The technology is codenamed Penryn and covers both the new geometry and updated Core 2 technology. Chips using it will go into production in the second half of 2007 and Penryn will be the basis for the processors of the future, making up the bulk of Intel chips in 2008 - ahead of arch-rival AMD's move to 45nm.
The product line covers Intel's range, from desktops, notebooks and servers, and is said to deliver better power savings and a fourth generation of streaming SIMD extensions (SSE), which fold additional digital signal processing instructions into the CPU.
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There will be both dual and quad-core versions, codenamed Wolfdale and Yorkfield respectively, with talk of an eight-core version neither ruled out nor admitted by Intel technology strategist Ron Curry. He told InformationWeek that it was too early to go into detail.
