Thread: Intel 32nm plans

Chipmaker Intel has outlined its plans to make CPUs based on its 32nm process ready for production by the end of this year. Having released its new Nehalem microarchitecture on the existing 45nm process, the company will now focus on the next level of miniaturization.

Westmere, as the new process is codenamed, will start a new "tick-tock" cycle, in which an existing microarchitecture is shrunk to a new process size, and then a new architecture is debuted on the same process. The first Westmere CPUs that Intel has publicly discussed are codenamed Clarkdale and Arrandale for desktops and notebooks respectivel'y, which will both feature two cores with HyperThreading as well as graphics cores integrated onto the CPU package. Though integrated, the graphics and memory controller will be 45nm parts. Another desktop CPU, codenamed Gulftown, will have six cores (for 12 effective threads).

Westmere will also usher in refreshes of existing single, dual, and multiple-socket Xeon processors. All of these products should supercede existing and still-unlaunched Nehalem CPUs in their respective platforms without requiring any change of chipset or socket, thereby allowing users to continue with their Nehalem-supporting motherboards. The Nehalem-based quad-core Lynnfield (desktop) and Clarksfield (mobile) CPUs are still scheduled for launch, but no information on quad-core Westmere equivalents was announced. The new plans also call into question the future of previously announced 45nm Nehalem-based CPUs, which would have a very short shelf life due to the accelerated introduction of 32nm parts.



With graphics and memory controllers on the CPU package, Intel claims that users will benefit from higher raw performance, lower latency, and lower power consumption. The increased capabilities of the CPU also extend to new instructions, the majority of which accelerate encryption and decryption algorithms. Motherboard makers should also be able to save on manufacturing costs.

IDFs reduced Intel also announced that its annual Developers' Forum in Taiwan would be cancelled, and the one in Beijing has been reduced to a single day to help
cut costs, both for itself and its partners. The flagship event in San Francisco remains unaffected and on schedule so far.

$7bn investment: The move to West mere represents an investment of US$7 billion in its manufacturing facilities in the United States. The commitment represents Intel's largest-ever investment for a new manufacturing process, according to a company statement. Intel, which makes approximately 75 percent of its sales outside the US, also reiterated its plans to carry out 75 percent of its manufacturing activities and also spend 75 percent of its research and development budgets within the US.