New Intel chip uses less power
By Jordan Robertson |
May 6, 2011, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
INTEL Corp said on Wednesday that it has redesigned the electronic switches on its chips so that computers can keep getting cheaper and more powerful.
The switches, known as transistors, have typically been flat. By adding a third dimension "fins" that jut up from the base Intel will be able to make the transistors and chips smaller.
The company said the new structure will let chips run on less power. Intel, based in Santa Clara, California, has been weak in smartphones and tablet computers because its current chips use too much power. Chips with the 3-D transistors will be in full production this year and appear in computers in 2012.
A chip can have a billion transistors, all laid out side by side in a single layer, as if they were the streets of a city. On Intel's new chips, the fins will jut up from that streetscape, sort of like bridges or overpasses. The new technology will be used for Intel's PC chips and its Atom line.
Technological leadership alone won't guarantee success, however, as Intel has learned in repeated attempts at cracking the mobile market.
Other chip makers such as Qualcomm Inc and Texas Instruments Inc have entrenched partnerships with cellphone makers, and there is suspicion about the performance of Intel's chips in mobile devices.
"When it comes to the mobile market, they have their work cut out for them," Dan Hutcheson, CEO of VLSI Research Inc, said of Intel.
The switches, known as transistors, have typically been flat. By adding a third dimension "fins" that jut up from the base Intel will be able to make the transistors and chips smaller.
The company said the new structure will let chips run on less power. Intel, based in Santa Clara, California, has been weak in smartphones and tablet computers because its current chips use too much power. Chips with the 3-D transistors will be in full production this year and appear in computers in 2012.
A chip can have a billion transistors, all laid out side by side in a single layer, as if they were the streets of a city. On Intel's new chips, the fins will jut up from that streetscape, sort of like bridges or overpasses. The new technology will be used for Intel's PC chips and its Atom line.
Technological leadership alone won't guarantee success, however, as Intel has learned in repeated attempts at cracking the mobile market.
Other chip makers such as Qualcomm Inc and Texas Instruments Inc have entrenched partnerships with cellphone makers, and there is suspicion about the performance of Intel's chips in mobile devices.
"When it comes to the mobile market, they have their work cut out for them," Dan Hutcheson, CEO of VLSI Research Inc, said of Intel.
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