Intel CEO compares Silverthorne criticality with original Pentium

Intel's been throwing so many mobile processor codenames around in the past 12 months or so that we've resorted to hiring droids to constantly update pivot tables as chips are named and nixed from its ever-evolving roadmap. But being the weekend and all, it looks like we're stuck telling you about yet another presumably vital processor that's likely destined to hit cellphones, UMPCs, and other handheld computing platforms sometime in the not too distant future. According to an interview by Germany's FAZ, Intel's CEO compared the chip "to the original Pentium" in terms of importance to the company, and while Mr. Otellini didn't go into too much detail beyond that (can't blame him for keeping us curious), he did note that the firm hopes the 45nm CPU can infiltrate "10 to 20-percent of the mobile phone market."

[Via TGDaily]

[Josh @ Jun 9th 2007 5:58PM]

Oops - read that as 'critically' at first and wondered why this wasn't another CE-Oh no he didn't...

[Tor I. Pettersen @ Jun 9th 2007 7:22PM]

Well, mobiles, or maybe we should call them PCD's (Personal Computing/Communication Devices) are only going to increase in importance as a platform. ARM certainly has a lead in this area, though, with 75-80% of the processor market, and seem set to increase their role within the PCD market with last years aquisition of Falanx Microsystems http://www.edn.com/article/CA6347034.html , giving them a pretty nice edge in the evolving PCD 3D graphics market.

So all in all, this sounds more like your normal CEO hot air attack.

- Tor I. Pettersen
http://www.gadgetsieve.com

[-ardcore Canadian @ Jun 10th 2007 1:15AM]

Wow... now I would love to see that kind of performance/watt in my desktop system.

"The 45 nm Silverthorne chip is expected to be as fast as the second-generation of Pentium M processors, while running in a power envelope between 0.6 and 2.0 watts."

[Matt @ Jun 10th 2007 9:05AM]

Is it odd to anyone that they named this processor after a Raymond Feist book?

[/eric @ Jun 10th 2007 2:16PM]

I thought it was a town in Colorado

[Matt @ Jun 11th 2007 6:37AM]

I stand corrected. With the "E" on the end it is indeed a town in Colorado. Does that make it any cooler?

[ashmist @ Jun 11th 2007 1:15AM]

That chip looks pretty damned big for a cell phone.