When it comes to mobile processors, Intel has been the industry’s sleeping giant. But the giant is now on the move; the first smartphone powered by Intel’s chips went on sale yesterday, and today Intel released a new line of quad-core mobile processors targeted at high-end laptops. “With this release, Intel (INTC) has extended its lead in the semiconductor field by at least 2 years, and has accelerated its pace of innovation to stay well ahead of its primary competition,” says analyst Jack Gold of J. Gold Associates.
Unlike many semiconductor companies, Intel makes its own chips for the most part. Intel is manufacturing the new Ivy Bridge chips using a 22nm process, which packs roughly 1.4 billion transistors on a processor. The company plans to add 3 additional 22nm factories during the second quarter.
Although the Ivy Bridge chips are not headed for mobile devices right now, it will not be long before their impact is felt in the wireless ecosystem. “The waterfall effect will allow (Intel) to migrate much of this technology pioneered for its higher end processors down to the Atom processor family,” says Jack Gold.
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The Atom processor powers the new XOLO X900 smartphone, which went on sale in India this week. The Atom is a 1.6 GHz single core processor. The XOLO X900 is made by India’s Lava International and retails for about $418.00 (2,200 rupees).
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