Intel Corporation announced a number of executive promotions and rotations today that recognize outstanding performance and assign new responsibilities as part of Intel's commitment to management development.

As previously announced by Intel's board of directors, Andy Bryant will move from vice chairman of the board to full-time executive chairman at the company's Annual Stockholders' Meeting in May. In anticipation of that change, Intel is promoting two senior executives, one of whom will take on much of Bryant's prior responsibilities.

Making silicon chips is not easy, requiring hugely expensive fabs, with massive clean-room environments and at every process shrink, the complexity and difficulty of making the things goes up significantly. It looks like TSMC and GlobalFoundries are both having serious yield problems with their 28 nm process nodes, according to Mike Bryant, technology analyst at Future Horizons and this is causing a rash of non-working wafers - to the point of having nothing working with some chip designs submitted for production. It seems that the root cause of these problems are to do with the pressures of bringing products to market, rather than an inherent problem with the technology; it just takes time that they haven't got to iron out the kinks and they're getting stuck: "Foundries have come under pressure to release cell libraries too early - which end up with designs that don't work," Bryant said. In an effort to try and be seen to treat every customer equally, TSMC is attempting to launch ten 28 nm designs from seven companies, but it's not working out too well: "At 45-nm, only NVIDIA was affected. At 28-nm any problems for TSMC will be problems for many customers" said Bryant.

AMD might be a little sore that its "Zambezi" FX processor family based on its much-hyped "Bulldozer" architecture didn't quite meet the performance expectations of a ground-up new CPU architecture, but it doesn't want to take chances and build hype around the architecture that succeeds it. From various sources, some faintly-reliable, we have been hearing that the next-generation of high-performance desktop processors based on "Piledriver" architecture, codenamed "Vishera", will pack five modules or 10 cores, and will be structured essentially like Zambezi, since Piledriver is basically a refinement of Bulldozer architecture. The latest leak comes from the Software Optimization Guide for AMD 15h family (read here), which was picked up by CPU World while most of us were busy with CES.

CPU World compiled most of the features of what it suspected to be AMD referring to its future processors based on the Piledriver architecture, that's "Vishera" (desktop high-performance), "Terramar" (high-density server), and "Sepang" (small-medium business server) parts. The three are not the first chips to be based on Piledriver, AMD has a new mainstream desktop and notebook APU in the works codenamed "Trinity", which is en route for a little later this year. Trinity basically has an identical CPUID instruction-set as Vishera, Terramar, and Sepang, confirming their common lineage compared to today's "Bulldozer" architecture. The most catchy detail is of Vishera featuring 4 DDR3 channels.

Intel Corporation today reported full-year revenue of $54 billion, operating income of $17.5 billion, net income of $12.9 billion and EPS of $2.39 - all records. The company generated approximately $21 billion in cash from operations, paid dividends of $4.1 billion and used $14.1 billion to repurchase 642 million shares of stock.

For the fourth quarter, Intel posted revenue of $13.9 billion, operating income of $4.6 billion, net income of $3.4 billion and EPS of 64 cents. The company generated approximately $6.6 billion in cash from operations, paid dividends of $1.1 billion and used $4.1 billion to repurchase 174 million shares of stock.

Just to give you an idea of how big an impact Intel's Ultrabook form-factor will have on the portable computing market, OEM major Acer's chairman JT Wang says that in 2012, just the second year of prominence of the platform, Ultrabooks will make up 25-35% of all notebook sales. In the first quarter since launch, Acer's Aspire S3 sold about 250,000-300,000 units. Despite uncertainty in the European market and slow sales expected in the US, Acer finds markets such as Brazil, the Philippines, Thailand and other Southeast Asia to be the prime-movers of growth for this platform.

In an effort to offer some (extra) comfort to enthusiasts who like to overclock their processors, Intel has launched something called the 'Performance Tuning Protection Plan'. This offering basically ensures a no questions asked, single processor replacement, in the event of the 'death' of an overclocked CPU.

To take advantage of the Performance Tuning Protection Plan, which comes as an addition to the standard 3 year warranty (this one only covers CPUs that fail 'under normal usage') people are required to pay a one-time fee between $20 and $35, depending on the CPU model.

Yesterday, we reported on Intel's embarrassing gaffe at demonstrating racing game F1 1 2011 running on a prototype ultrabook with an Ivy Bridge processor, where it was really just a video. Since then, AnandTech has seen that game play on an Ivy Bridge notebook just fine, but the best proof has come now, where they got hold of the actual ultrabook at the centre of the controversy and tested it with that game. The result? It works just fine, like we suspected. It looks like Intel just need a little PR makeover, is all. Video proof follows.

Arctic showed of two nearly-identical CPU coolers, the Freezer i30 and Freezer A30. The two are identical till the point where the i30 is designed for Intel sockets only (LGA2011, LGA1155/1156), while the A30, for AMD sockets only (AM3+/AM3/AM2+/AM2). The two share a tower-type aluminum fin-stack heatsink design, capable of handling thermal loads of up to 320W.

The heatsink uses four 8 mm thick exposed-copper heat pipes that make direct contact with the CPU at the base, and pass through the heatsink, which is then ventilated by a 120 mm PWM-controlled fan with a fancy-looking frame. Rubber standoffs attach the fan to the heatsink dampening vibrations. The retention clips come attached to the heatsink out of the box. A 0.5g syringe of Arctic MX-4 compound is included, while the coolers' base don't come with the compound pre-applied.

ZOTAC International, a leading innovator and a channel manufacturer, today launches the ZOTAC D2700-ITX WiFi Supreme - a next-generation mini-ITX platform for DIY home theater PC users. The ZOTAC D2700-ITX WiFi Supreme combines the latest energy-efficient Intel Atom processor with world-class NVIDIA GeForce graphics processors for superior energy-efficiency and stunning high-definition video playback.

The latest generation Intel Atom D2700 CedarTrail processor with dual cores and Intel HyperThreading technology enables the ZOTAC D2700-ITX WiFi Supreme to deliver snappy multitasking responsiveness for everyday computing tasks. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 520 graphics processor equips the ZOTAC D2700-ITX WiFi Supreme with hardware-accelerated Blu-ray 3D playback capabilities and HDMI 1.4a technology for the ultimate 3D high-definition experience.

After many years of planning, work and investment, Intel is now finally looking ready to step up and challenge ARM in the smartphone space. Yesterday at CES 2012 Intel announced that not one but two major companies - Lenovo and Motorola, will be using its 32 nm Medfield SoC (System-on-chip) for smartphones and tablets coming out later this year.

Lenovo is set to kick off the Medfield game as soon as Q2 when it will release in China the K800 smartphone running Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). The K800 is powered by a 1.6 GHz (single-core/dual-threaded) Atom Z2460 chip, and features a 4.5-inch TFT touchscreen, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, and GPS. Lenovo's plans also include a 10-inch Android tablet that's likely also scheduled for a Q2 arrival.

ORIGIN PC starts off 2012 with three major announcements. The award-winning GENESIS desktop has been overclocked to a record 5.7GHz with the exclusive new ORIGIN PC Phase Change cooling system. The Phase Change cooling system will be available in late Q1. ORIGIN PC launches free U.S. based lifetime 24/7 technical support on all desktops and laptops starting today. The award winning EON17-S and EON15-S laptops both receive an upgrade with the new exclusive ORIGIN PC design.

That Dodgy Intel Ivy Bridge DX11 'demo' at CES 2012 (UPDATED)

Word has been flying round the internet about Intel's dodgy Ivy Bridge DX11 'demo'. Intel's Mooly Eden, VP, PC Client Group was attempting to demonstrate a racing game on a prototype laptop - 'ultrabook' - fitted with an upcoming 22 nm Ivy Bridge processor with a racing wheel attached and allegedly rendering DX11 graphics. However, as is very apparent at the start, it's actually a video, because the control panel for the free VLC video player pops up for a few seconds. Eden then 'drives' a car and after a few seconds puts up one hand and then the other, because as he says "they are driving it from backstage". However, there was no one driving the game "backstage", as it was just a video and Eden doesn't say anything about this at any point in the presentation.

This gives conspiracy theorists lots of ammunition, as perhaps the game was actually played on a high powered desktop PC with NVIDIA or AMD discrete graphics cards? What game was it? Eden doesn't say. "IB can't really do these graphics!" they cry and so on. Sure, man 'didn't' go to the moon, either... However, we believe that while yes, there was a bit of deception going on, it was nothing more than a white(ish) lie. Why? Because Ivy Bridge comes out in April and people aren't going to forget this demo. They will immediately put IBs DX11 graphics to the test with similar games and if it doesn't deliver, Intel will have a lot of egg on its face. Here's what Intel had to say about this demo in an official statement:

Imagine if your micro-ATX box that looks like you borrowed it from your mom and pop could crush every other machine twice or thrice its size, at the LAN party. That's possible when you run an Intel Xeon E5-2670 processor paired with ASUS Rampage IV Gene motherboard, as VR-Zone found out. Based on the Sandy Bridge-EP silicon the Xeon E5-2670 packs 8 cores, 16 threads enabled with HyperThreading, 8 x 256 KB L2 cache, and 20 MB shared L3 cache, and a quad-channel DDR3 IMC supporting up to 128 GB of RAM. ASUS managed to slip the right microcode into the BIOS running Rampage IV Gene, letting it run the chip. The Xeon E5-2670 will be clocked at 2.6 GHz, with a TDP of 115W. "Real men use real cores," go tell that to AMD.

ZOTAC International, a leading innovator and a channel manufacturer, today kicks off the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show with a trio of versatile 2nd-Generation ZBOX mini-PCs for all your computing needs. The new ZOTAC ZBOX ID81, ID80 and AD04 series deliver outstanding energy-efficiency and stunning high-definition video playback in a compact form factor.

2nd-Generation ZBOX platform enhancements debuting with the ZBOX ID81, ID80 and AD04 series include an external WiFi antenna for superior wireless reception, integrated Bluetooth 3.0 technology and a bundled Media Remote with USB IR receiver for use with Microsoft Windows Media Center, XBMC and other popular media player applications.

Cavium, Inc. (NASDAQ: CAVM), a leading provider of semiconductor products that enable intelligent processing for networking, communications, and digital home applications, today announced a technology and marketing collaboration with Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) to offer Intel(R) WiDi-based products designed to enable superior wireless display consumer experience. The resulting end-to-end solution will combine Intel(R) WiDi's ease-of-use and innovation with Cavium's super low latency technology and advanced video processing techniques to further enhance Intel(R) WiDi's interactivity and broaden its target applications. As a part of the marketing collaboration, Intel and Cavium will work together to expand and grow the market for wireless display products. A range of OEMs will soon be offering Intel(R) WiDi compatible receivers with Cavium's PureVu(TM) media SoC. Live demonstrations of Cavium's new Intel(R) WiDi receivers are available at Cavium's suite at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, between Jan 10th and 13th.

BryteWerks LLC announces the launch of a product line poised to establish a new category of intelligent, hybrid media centers based on an advanced high-definition digital projector platform. The BryteWerks Model One line of Intel Core CPU-based digital projectors merge state-of-the-industry computer, digital, and optical technologies with superior connectivity capabilities and innovative industrial design into a cost-effective and intuitive multimedia control and exhibition powerhouse.

Designed for either consumer or professional applications, the BryteWerks Model One line delivers exhibition-quality 16:10 widescreen 1920x1200 resolution (within 5% of professional 2K cinema systems), through a LCD Native WUXGA panel. The projectors also feature an ultra-high brightness of 6,000 - 11,000 lumens, a 1000:1 True Contrast Ratio, and a 1:1 throw of 1 foot to 50 feet, making them the very best, all-purpose digital projectors in their class. Internally, the BryteWerks Model One projectors feature (depending upon model configuration), a fully-integrated Intel Core i3 to i7 HTPC CPU, a full featured, slot-loaded Blu-ray player, up to 2 terabytes of internal storage, including a 500 gigabyte Solid State Drive, unequaled connectivity options, and a custom version of XBMC, an open source media organization and playback application, making the Model One a revolutionary and unsurpassed media center.

Last week, Intel launched its third-generation Atom processor platform for netbooks and low-power PCs, codenamed "Cedar Trail", with mobile variants including the 1.60 GHz N2600 and 1.83 GHz N2800. Earlier, it launched its low-power PC variants, the 1.86 GHz D2500 and 2.13 GHz D2700. As a result of a slip-up, Intel disclosed a three new models in the datasheet (PDF) document of the new Atom series. These include the new 1.70 GHz N2650, 2.00 GHz N2850, which will likely replace the N2600 and N2800 in the future; and the D2550. This chip is clocked identically with the D2500, but has a faster iGPU, clocked at 640 MHz, up from the 400 MHz iGPU the D2500 packs. Since this chip is designed for low-power PCs, its power characteristics aren't of that much concern as its N2000 series cousins.

With Intel's third-generation Core processor family (codenamed: Ivy Bridge) on the horizon, the company is issuing product discontinuation notices to channel partners, and stopping production of as many as 25 desktop CPU models, spanning across various product lines. Intel notified partners to suspend supply of Core i5-661/660, Core i3-530, Pentium E5700 and Celeron E3500, it will cease production for these chips in the second quarter of 2012.

Moving on, production of several LGA1366, LGA1155 and LGA1156 Core i3/i5/i7 processors, including Core i7-960/950/930/870; Core i5-2300/680/670, and Pentium G960, will cease in Q2 2012. But before that, production of Core i7-875K, Core i7-860S, Core i5-760/750S/655K, and Celeron 450/430 will stop in Q1 2012. Apart from these, production of Core i7-880S/870S, Core Duo E7500/E7600, Pentium E6600/E550 and Celeron E3300 will stop in Q2 2012, sources revealed to industry observer DigiTimes.

Investment firm Barclays Capital lowered its ratings on semiconductor majors Intel, Applied Materials Inc, Freescale Semiconductor Holdings Ltd, Microchip Technology Inc., and Spansion Inc., from "equal weight" from "overweight", meaning that these companies are no longer outperforming, and are doing average, with negligible growth. Towards the end of 2011, Intel adjusted its Q4 forecast, lowering it by $1 billion, blaming factors beyond its control such as HDD supply problems. Weakened PC sales growth is another major factor. On the other hand, DRAM and NAND flash memory maker Micron Technology got its rating upgraded to "overweight", as Barclays notes that the industries Micron is in, are on the verge of a boom. Reacting to this, Micron's shares shot up by 11 percent during trading early this week, sending its shares' valuation from $6.2 billion, up 9 percent to $6.88 billion.

The Taiwan Criminal Investigation Bureau has been doing a bit of investigating and has arrested four engineers working for Intel's OEM partners (names not disclosed) for flogging Engineering Sample (ES) processors on eBay. ES processors are intended strictly for qualification testing purposes for development of new products by OEM's and are only loaned to them under strict non-disclosure agreements, hence putting these on eBay is illegal. The Bureau searched the suspects houses last month and found 178 ES CPU's, worth around $800,000. Note that this value seems to be somewhat high, as it would make each CPU worth around $4,500. We will update this article if new values come to light. Also, this is not a new operation that has been busted, since the suspects had admitted to selling around 500 ES CPU's since 2009. For their efforts, the fab four now face five years in prison.

It should be noted for anyone contemplating the purchase of such dodgy CPU's on eBay or similar places, that they may be overstressed and contain faults, due to the intensive and sometimes destructive testing they go through.

With key enterprise architectures such as Sandy Bridge-EP awaiting launch, Intel has as many as 40 Xeon processor models to release in the first half of 2012, which it will likely launch in two rounds of 20 models, for each of the first two quarters of this year. In Q1, Intel will release six-core Xeon E5-1660 and E5-1650, and a yet to be named quad-core model; the three will be priced at US US$1,080, US$583 and US$294, respectively. In the same quarter, Intel will also launch 7 eight-core Xeon processor models, including the Xeon E5-2690four six-core processors including E5-2640, three quad-core processors including E5-2609 and dual-core processor E5-2637. Intel will also launch some low-power (energy-efficient) Xeon models, including Xeon E5-2450L and six-core E5-2430L priced at US$1,106 and US$662.

In the second quarter of 2012, Intel will launch the other 20 models. These include Xeon processors based on the Ivy Bridge silicon, and in the socket H2 (LGA1155) package. The Xeon E3-1290v2 is an example of such a chip. These high-grade Ivy Bridge chips will be priced in the range of US$189-884. Then on, 7 more E5 series models will be launched, including Xeon E5-2470, priced between US$192-1,440. Towards the end of the quarter, Intel will launch low-power eight-core and six-core Xeon processor models, including Xeon E5-2650L and E5-2630L, priced at priced at US$1,106 and US$662, respectively.

The onslaught of ARM-powered smartphones and tablets has taken a bit toll on not just the netbook (cheap, slow notebook, Steve Jobs' views), but even the future of Intel's x86 architecture as everyday computing devices get smaller. Sure, Intel has an x86-based processor platform in the works for smartphones and tablets, codenamed "Medfield", but its intentions towards the two form-factors come across as hollow and short-sighted when you look at the latest partner release, where it pitches the ultrabook form-factor as "the answer" to ARM tablets.

It goes on to list out exactly why tablets are function-limited, and can never become people's everyday computing device; and how ultrabooks can offer more functionality at similar compactness of form-factor as tablets. This directly implies that Intel's intentions with Medfield are to merely cash-in on what it perceives to be a short-term demand for processors that drive ultra-compact tablets; at least till ultrabooks get cemented in the market, so it could push tablets out of the market and bring "order" back to the PC segment.

According to Digitimes' upstream supply chain sources, two Top 5 PC makers, Lenovo and Acer, are planning to introduce in the third quarter of this year some Wintel tablet PCs based on Intel's Clover Trail platform.

Clover Trail is the third Atom platform to utilize 32nm chips, and it specifically targets tablets, offering higher performance than the Medfield SoC coming in the first half of this year.

Both Acer and Lenovo's alleged Clover Trail tablet PCs are expected to run Windows 8 and may focus on the enterprise market.

Chinese brand Weibu Wibtech is ready with a high-end socket LGA1155 motherboard based on the Intel Z77 "Panther Point" chipset, called the "Hacker Z77". The board is designed to support next-generation Core processors based on the 22 nm "Ivy Bridge" silicon out of the box, while retaining support for existing Sandy Bridge processors in the LGA1155 package. The CPU is powered by a 16-phase VRM, it is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting dual-channel DDR3 memory. Expansion slots include two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (electrical x8/x8 when both are populated), two PCI-Express 2.0 x1, and two legacy PCI.

Storage connectivity includes a total of six SATA 6 Gb/s ports, and four SATA 3 Gb/s internal ports. Display outputs include one each of DVI, HDMI, and D-Sub. All USB ports on the rear panel are USB 3.0, some of which are wired to the Z77 PCH, some from additional controllers. Apart from the six USB 3.0 ports on the rear panel, there are four USB 3.0 ports available via front-panel headers. There are a few other USB 2.0 headers. Networking capabilities include wired gigabit Ethernet, WiFi b/g/n, and Bluetooth. Other connectivity includes 8+2 channel HD audio with optical SPDIF output, Firewire, and a strange unidentified connector (a button?), which definitely doesn't look like mini-DP/Thunderbolt. The board is said to have a boat-load of features for overclockers to play with. It is not known at this point of Wibtech will sell this board apart from its typical market of mainland China, Hong Kong, etc.

"Visibly Smart" was the tagline with which Intel brought its 2nd Generation Core processor family codenamed "Sandy Bridge" into the market. What every Sandy Bridge chip in the LGA1155 package launched thus far has in common is its integrated graphics controller. Apparently, Intel is planning to launch three new Core i5 quad-core processors, which lack that integrated graphics. The processors very much will work on H61, H67, and Z68 chipset-based motherboards, only you can't use the integrated graphics, making them functionally-identical to first-generation LGA1156 Core i5 quad-core chips.

The Core i5-2550K, which has been talked about for the past few weeks, is one of these three models that will lack iGPU. This chip is geared for overclocking, as it features an unlocked base clock multiplier. The other two models are the Core i5-2450P, and Core i5-2380P. Intel is perhaps counting on the "P" marker to intuitively denote lack of iGPU, like with P67 chipset. Clocked at 3.10 GHz with a Turbo Boost speed of 3.40 GHz, the Core i5-2380P is clocked identically to the Core i5-2400, except of course it lacks the iGPU. The Core i5-2450P, on the other hand is a little unique, with a clock speed of 3.20 GHz and 3.50 GHz Turbo Boost speed. Pricing and availability are not known, though it is expected that some of these chips will be priced lower than existing models with iGPU.