Intel Corp., the world’s leading chipmaker has finally dipped its new family of low-power processors into the technology font, christening them as “Atom.”
Intel names its new range of low-cost processors as "Atom." Credit: Intel Corp.
Alongside naming its new tech, Intel has also announced its Centrino Atom processor brand for MID (mobile Internet devices), which consists of multiple chips in order to enable on-the-go users to get the most from their portable mobile devices.
The Centrino Atom technology includes the Intel Atom processor, a low-power companion chip with integrated graphics, a wireless radio, and thinner and lighter designs.
The low-power Atom line, which was previously known under the monikers Silverthorne, Diamondville, and Menlow (Centrino Atom) has been specially designed for MIDs and also a new class of simple and affordable Internet-centric computers, which are due to arrive at market later in 2008.
Intel points out that Atom has been built on “entirely new architecture” designed for small devices and low power while also maintaining the Intel Core 2 Duo instruction set compatibility that Intel consumers know from using a regular computer and Internet connection.
Set for manufacture through Intel’s 45nm process with hi-k metal gate technology, the Atom arrives as Intel’s smallest and most power efficient chip range that offers a thermal design power (TDP) specification of 0.6-2.5 watts and scale to 1.8GHz speeds -- depending on customer requirements. According to Intel, today’s mainstream mobile Core 2 Duo processors have a 35-watt TDP range.
“This is our smallest processor built with the world's smallest transistors,” commented Intel Executive Vice President and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Sean Maloney. “This small wonder is a fundamental new shift in design, small yet powerful enough to enable a big Internet experience on these new devices. We believe it will unleash new innovation across the industry.”
Beyond the MID appeal of Atom, Intel believes that its latest range of low power processors will be “perfectly suited” to meet demand in emergent market segments such as low-cost, Internet-centric mobile computer devices known as ‘netbooks’ as well as basic Internet desktop PCs called ‘nettops.’ Both of these devices are expected to grow in the market over the next few years.
With personal computing increasingly going mobile and the computer industry rapidly developing new classes of products to connect the next billion people to the Internet, the Intel Atom processor offers customers the unique ability to innovate around the new low-power design.
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