Intel to put spotlight on quad core

Intel at its Intel Developer Forum conference in San Francisco this week is expected to highlight advances towards quad-core processors that are slated to start shipping by the end of this year.

Intel chief executive Paul Otellini is scheduled to kick off the event on Tuesday morning and will be followed by presentations from chief technology officer Justin Rattner.

The chipmaker gave a first public demonstration of the quad-core Kentsfield desktop processor at the spring edition of its twice-a-year developer conference last March. A server version of the chip is being developed under the Clovertown codename.

The chips bundle two dual-core processors onto a single die. As a result the cores won't be able to share a single cache which could impact performance. The next generation processors are expected to feature a cache that is shared between all processor cores. 

Rumors also suggest that Intel could unveil an initiative to integrate a graphics process directly onto its CPUs. Such a move would be a logical response to similar plans by AMD, which earlier this year acquired graphics card manufacturer ATI for US$5.4 billion.

The developer event will be an important opportunity for Intel to polish up its image as a leader in the high-tech landscape. The chipmaker in recent quarters has suffered from a drop in market share and revenues as a result of increasing competition from AMD.

Intel is in the process of laying off about 10,500 of its employees, has reshuffled its top management and spun off divisions that didn't contribute to the company's microprocessor business. The company in the past summer also has slashed prices and sped up its development cycle.

Copyright ©v3.co.uk

corehardwareintelonputquadspotlightto