In a keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on Monday, Intel chief executive officer Paul Otellini will make a small announcement: the introduction of the chip manufacturing giant’s tiny but powerful new processors (codenamed Penryn) for notebook computers. Otellini will also introduce the company’s new Menlow platform, which is designed to dramatically reduce power consumption without sacrificing processing capabilities for ultra-mobile devices (UMDs) and mobile Internet devices (MIDs).
According to a pre-CES news bulletin issued by the company, the Penryn processors and their mobile counterpart, Silverthorne, both use a new 45-nanometer “Hafnium-based, Hi-k metal” transistor gate that delivers improved performance and significantly longer battery life.
Intel executives are particularly excited about the potential for delivering the complete Internet experience “in your pocket.” Earlier this week, Gary Willihnganz, Director of Marketing for the Intel Ultra Mobile Group, demonstrated some Menlow-based prototypes for GottaBeMobile.com video blogger Warner Crocker, and talked about Intel’s vision for the future of mobile computing.
Holding up a tiny processor, Willihnganz said “This is Silverthorne, the CPU complex for the Menlow platform. It’s built on our 45nm Hi-k manufacturing processes. That means it’s going to be fast! It combines with our Poulsbo chipset, and together, that makes up the Menlow platform.
Intel’s news release said that both Silverthorne and Poulsbo have been designed from scratch to work in low-power devices, and that the company has been successful in marketing the Menlow platform to a variety of handset manufacturers.
Full-scale production of the 45-nanometer chips is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2008.
A successful launch of the Menlow platform could significantly boost Intel’s position in the Open Handset Alliance, the coalition of hardware, software, and online service companies working to develop the Android platform for mobile devices.
In his video interview, Willihnganz said that one…