(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-03-03 11:07

Intel will release it's new nanometer chips named Atom and several versions of it will hit the market duing the first half of this year, media reported Monday.

Intel's new Dual-Core Xeon Processor 5100 is displayed at an event in San Francisco in June 26, 2006. [Xinhua]

The processors are made using Intel's 45-nanometer process, and will run at clock speeds up to 1.8GHz. Slower versions will also be available, but Intel isn't saying what the slowest clock speed will be. Pricing for the chips has yet to be announced.

The chips, which measure less than 25 square millimeters, have a thermal design power (TDP) of between 0.6 watts to 2.5 watts. That number refers to the maximum sustained power that users are likely to see with the chips, not the maximum amount of power the chips can consume.

The small size of the Atom means 2,500 of them can be produced on a single 300-millimeter silicon wafer, allowing Intel to sell them at a low price while maintaining high margins.

While Intel hasn't announced a specific date for Atom's release, "Mobile Internet devices based on Centrino Atom will hit the market in the beginning of the second quarter," said Danny Cheung, an Intel spokesman in Singapore.

Mobile Internet device, or MID, is the term Intel uses to describe some, but not all, devices that are generally referred to as ultramobile PCs. Prototype MIDs shown by Intel typically include touchscreens or slide-out keypads and the company envisions these devices running Linux instead of Windows.

Low-cost notebooks and desktops based on Atom will hit the market sometime during the third quarter, Cheung said, adding Intel also expects to see demand for Atom processors in consumer electronics and embedded applications.