Intel delaying 45nm CPUs to stump AMD?

View this article at: http://www.electronista.com/articles/07/12/19/intel.45nm.cpu.delay/

Wednesday, Dec 19, 2007 3:15pm

Intel delaying 45nm CPUs to stump AMD?

Intel is consciously delaying three of its desktop quad-core chips based on the new 45-nanometer Penryn architecture to undermine similar releases from AMD, claim some Taiwan mainboard producers. Previously slated for January 20th, the 2.5GHz (Q9300), 2.66GHz (Q9450), and 2.83GHz (Q9550) Core 2 Quad will be pushed back to a February or March release specifically to counter releases of upgraded Phenom processors timed for a similar period. While Intel is confident its processors will outperform those from AMD, which still use a less efficient 65-nanometer design, there is no point to releasing the new Core 2 Quads until AMD begins to catch up in performance, according to the purported insiders.

No plans have been cited for delays in any of Intel's Penryn-based mobile processors, which have largely remained unchallenged by AMD. The latter is currently limited to its Turion X2 mobile chips, which are based on the older Athlon 64 X2 desktop core. Previous reports have predicted that dual-core mobile Penryn chips remain on track for mid-January and should be used almost immediately for notebooks by Fujitsu as well as other major PC makers, which are believed to include Apple, Dell, and HP.