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Intel finishes crossing the Ivy Bridge with new desktop Core i3 models
Intel has been staggering the rollout of its Ivy Bridge processors over the space of nearly half a year, starting with its higher-end quad-core chips; it's finally time for the company to complete the story and ship some budget Core i3 desktop parts. The semiconductor giant is coy about the new roster at this stage, but it does promise both regular (s-series) and low-power (t-series) Core i3 chips at clock speeds between 2.8GHz and 3.4GHz. If the past is an indicator, the new components will be mostly or exclusively dual-core and lack extras like Hyperthreading -- they will get Intel's newer integrated graphics and other perks through the upgrade, however. Bulk pricing and other details haven't yet been aggregated in one place, although we're seeing that even the faster 3.3GHz Core i3-3220 is selling at retail for $130. We wouldn't expect anything from Intel's new offerings to break the bank.
Next-next-gen Atom will be a system on a chip called 'Silvermont,' pack 3D transistors?
Last week, we were treated to an earful about Intel's plans for its future chips -- most notably, that it's committing to 3D transistors across the board. Well, that trickle of information hasn't run dry just yet -- today's tidbit gives us a peek not into the next-generation of Atom, but the one already in the works to come after that. The new processor, codenamed "Silvermont," will be a system-on-a-chip and is reportedly slated to ship sometime in 2013. CNET also cites unnamed sources who claim that it will be designed specifically to take advantage of Intel's 22nm technology and 3D transistors. As it stands, though, they boost the cost of wafers by two to three percent, so here's hoping that premium comes down before the netbooks of the future hit the market -- if we have netbooks in the future.
Intel announces plans to spend up to $8 billion on U.S. factory upgrades
Apple and Google may be sitting on their piles of cash, but Intel sure is dipping into its reserves in a big way these days -- the company has just announced that it's following up its nearly $8 billion acquisition of McAfee with a multi-billion dollar investment in upgrades to its factories in Arizona and Oregon. That investment will total between $6 billion and $8 billion, and include the development of an entirely new fabrication plant in Oregon, in addition to upgrades at the two existing facilities that will allow Intel to move forward with its 22-nanometer manufacturing process. As you can no doubt guess, the investment will also be quite a boon to both areas -- Intel says that the upgrades, which will take place over "several years," will create as many as 8,000 construction jobs and between 800 and 1,000 permanent jobs at the facilities. Head on past the break for the full press release.
