Intel Corp chief operating officer Paul Otellini said the company's new semiconductors for desktop computers will come out "in the next month or so."
The chips, code-named Prescott, will replace the current Pentium 4 flagship model as Santa Clara, California-based Intel's highest-performing model.
Intel, the world's largest semiconductor maker, gets more than 80 percent of its revenue from processors for personal computers.
PHOTO: AP
Last year Intel introduced processors, called Centrino, that combine with other chips to allow laptop users to more easily access wireless Internet connections.
"We have another version, faster versions of Centrino mobile technology coming out over the year, we have new processors in the desktop, code-named Prescott, coming out very soon here, in the next month or so, and new server chips," said Otellini in an interview at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The new chips will be produced on 300mm silicon wafers using 90-nanometer technology, said Intel spokesman Robert Manetta.
Intel and its competitors are shifting manufacturing to cutting chips from larger disks of silicon to increase the output from each production run.
By reducing the line width in the circuits on the chips to 90 nanometers from the current 130 standard, the company will also be able to shrink the size of the chips further, allowing it to put more circuits on each piece of silicon. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter.
The company has also developed chips for high-definition digital televisions in an effort to get its products into more household electronics, Otellini said in a speech at the Consumer Electronics Show.
Intel will begin selling the chips, code-named Cayley, in the second half of this year, Otellini said.
InFocus Corp, Skyworth Digital Holdings Ltd and TCL Corp are developing products based on Intel prototypes, he said.
The company is trying to speed up the process of connecting electronic appliances and gadgets in the home to broaden the uses of its semiconductors beyond personal computers, where it gets more than 80 percent of its revenue.
The new chips that run high-definition TVs and connect them with other devices, often without wires, are part of that strategy.
"It's no longer just about just having gadgets but about doing things inside the home," Otellini said in the speech.
"We all want the freedom to move around our houses," Otellini said.
The Consumer Electronics Association forecast that sales of digital television sets will total 5.4 million units this year, almost doubling to 10.5 million by 2006.
Televisions with the Cayley chip and 50-inch screens will cost less than US$1,800 by next year, Otellini said.
The company is also developing chips and a design for a device called an Entertainment PC, a computer that connects to a television, DVD player and other consumer electronics that helps users manage video, music and gaming files.
Companies including Gateway Inc. will begin selling devices with Entertainment PC features during the middle of this year, Otellini said.
Otellini compared Intel's focus on consumer electronics this year to its efforts last year to promote wireless computing.
The company last year launched a US$300 million advertising campaign to promote its Centrino chips used in laptops with wireless Internet connections.
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