Next-gen netbook chips revealed

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Intel'splans for its forthcoming chips designed to power upcoming netbooks have been revealed in a report prepared by UBS Securities.

Intel's successor to Atom will be called Medfield and will be built on a 32nm process. The part will be a 'system-on-chip', which means that it will integrate a CPU and chipset onto a single die. It's due to hit in 2010 and will be available in single and dual-core variants. Before that arrives an interim part called Pineview will appear.

The UBS Securities report suggested that netbooks will evolve from basic content consuming devices to tools for viewing HD content, which would imply a major boost in performance.

Intel's move to a 32nm manufacturing process would help it achieve this, at it would enable far more transistors to be built into a CPU die with reduced power consumption.

The chip company confirmed in a statement today that is on track to move from its current 45nm manufacturing process to 32nm by the fourth quarter of 2009. It will present details at the International Electron Devices Meeting(IEDM) next week in San Francisco.

The 32nm process represents its second generation use of high-K metal gate transistor technology, that the company said was crucial in enabling to continue to overcome the physical limitations that would otherwise have threatened its ability to continue to meet Moore's Law, which states that transistor count will double every 18-24 months.

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