Intel confirmed the plans to construct a factory in Dalian, northern China. It will use 300mm wafers and cost $2.5 billion. When the factory is done in 2010 it will be designated Fab 68.

For the past 15 years Intel hasn't constructed any new facilities at a new location, added to that it will also be the first fab located in Asia. China is a rapidly growing market, Intel hopes an investment in this market will better their service Asia.

On March 22 1993, Intel shipped the very first Pentium processor, the 60MHz model imaginatively dubbed the 'P60'.

Pentium was the successor to the 486 processor. Intel had originally wanted to call the chip the 586, but couldn't get a trademark on the number. Rather than let AMD use the 586 name too, the company decided to switch to a word. Pentium is obviously based on the Greek pent, which is the word for five (hence pentathalon, pentagram etc).

The brand went through a number of iterations - Pentium II, III and IV, amazingly - before being killed off in favor of the Core brand that came into play in January 2006, after years of mediocre Pentium IV performance.

The first Intel Developer Forum (IDF) of 2007 and the largest ever held in China aims to drive innovations and foster powerful collaborations through vision, training and networking opportunities. IDF Beijing, delivering most content in Chinese and English, will focus on how energy-efficient technologies and products can bring unprecedented performance to customers, transform the industry and power innovations through a mix of programs.

Most of you have probably heard of the One Laptop Per Child, or OLPC for short, project. The project aims to provide a large quantity of low price laptops for low-tech countries. Intel decided that they want a peace of the action, and hence made the Classmate PC. Their cheap family-oriented laptop uses a 900MHz Celeron M, is based off of an Intel chipset, has 256MB of RAM, and 2GB of NAND flash storage. The operating system can be either a copy of Linux, or Windows XP. This hardware is noticeably better than the OLPC laptop, which features an AMD Geode processor, however at a significant price increase. The Classmate PC can cost up to $500 USD, which would make some retail solutions a bit cheaper (and even more powerful). Regardless, Intel has a customer for this laptop...Chile.

Way back in October, we posted possible specifications of the new Intel "Bearlake" chipset. Well, Intel has finally confirmed this Bearlake chipset. There will be five variants. These are the X38, the P35, the G35, the G33, and finally the G31.

• The X38 is designed to work with Core 2 Extreme processors, works with Intel's 45nm Penryn, will use PCI Express 2.0 technology, and "performance auto-tuning", which dynamically overclocks...everything. The X38 will run at an FSB of 1333 MHz, and can handle DDR3 RAM clocked similarly.
• The P35 will handle all current generation Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad processors, but there is no word as to what else this thing can do.
• The G35 is just like the P35, except with integrated DX10 graphics. The integrated graphics have a built in HDCP decoder and HDMI output, so that users can plug in an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray drive without worry.
• The G33 is a slightly cut down version of the G35, but still has the impressive DX10 integrated graphics.
• The G31 still has the integrated graphics, but is designed for the budget minded customer.

The P35 and G33 will arrive Q2 of this year, and every other Bearlake chipset will be released in Q3.

Intel Corp has won approval to build a $2.5 billion, 12-inch wafer plant in northern China for CPU chip sets, according to a statement issued Tuesday from China's National Development and Reform Commission. The plant would use 90-nanometer technology and produce 52,000 wafers a month at full capacity, according to the NDRC, which is China's top planning group. The plan calls for the fab to be in the city of Dalian. According to sources familiar with the project, official announcement is expected from Intel in the next few weeks. At this stage, Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said, "We have announced no plans and will not comment on speculation of this nature". Click here if you want to read the full story.

Intels current mobile platform Napa get's a successor named Santa Rosa at the beginning of May. It comes in two versions, the PM65 and the GM965 featuring an integrated graphics core (DirectX 9.0c, up to 256MB shared memory).
The Santa Rosa platform will come with the new pin-grid array based 'Socket P' which is keyed differently than the current Socket M. Together with the Santa Rosa Intel will introduce Socket P CPUs. These special Meroms get a higher FSB (800MHz) than their Socket M counterpart but will come with frequencies as high as 2.8GHz. Sadly this Core 2 Extreme X7900 will be released somewhat later in the second half of this year.

Intel has added to the competition among solid state hard drive manufacturers with its new Z-U130 range. Based on NAND flash memory and using the USB 2.0/1.1 interface, the drive is claimed to be superior to standard flash drives because it offers faster boot times, embedded code storage, rapid data access and low-power storage alternatives. Compared to standard hard drives, solid state drives have lower seek times, faster start up times, improved read times, lower power consumption, silent operation and they normally weigh less, not to mention no moving parts which allows for improved reliability. Intel will be starting out with 1GB, 2GB, 4GB and 8GB versions, however the larger densities won't be available until later in the year. Although these drives aren't yet able to compete on price or capacity, as the technology develops and more efficient production techniques are found they are likely to become the replacements for current-day spinning drives.Update: this information is now available in an Intel Press Release

Intel is reported to be planning new Pentium and Celeron processors based on the Core 2 Duo architecture. According to Chinese site HKEPC, the Pentium E2000 series will be launched on June 3rd, with the 1.6GHz E2140 and the 1.8GHz E2160. Both will feature a 1MB L2 cache with an 800MHz frontside bus, priced at $74 and $84 respectively. Whilst these two CPUs should replace the Pentium D 925 and 935, there will also be a new Celeron 400 series, with a 430 running at 1.8GHz and a 440 running at 2GHz, both of which will have a 512KB L2 cache and 800MHz FSB.

Intel is also expected to update its Core 2 Extreme range during the third quarter of this year, with the 2.66GHz QX6700 being replaced by the new 2.93GHz QX6800, which features a 1066MHz FSB and 4MB L2 cache - the price is expected to remain at $999, and this processor will be replaced with a 45nm chip sometime next year.

HKEPC has info about upcoming price cuts on Intel's CPUs:One can only wonder what would make Intel cut prices so much, especially on their high end models! This move will truly bring quad-core to the masses. Is Intel scared of what AMD has in store?

Chipmaker Intel is set to launch two new processors for its quad-core range on March 12th - the Xeon L5320 and the Xeon L5310. The new CPUs require much less energy than previous quad-core models, running on just 50 watts of power, a 38% drop from the 80 watt models available now. Both will feature an 8MB L2 cache using a 1066MHz FSB. The L5320 will run at 1.86GHz, whilst the L5310 is just behind on 1.6GHz, with the processors priced at $519 and $455 respectively. The new Xeons are compatible with existing dual and quad-core Xeon processors and are designed to work in Intel's Bensley server platform, taking the company total to 11 quad-core processors.

Update: this information is now available in an Intel Press Release

Recent roadmaps from Intel have suggested that the company intends to mass produce phase change memory by the end of 2007, allowing consumers to sample this new form of storge. Phase change memory, or PCM, is expected to succeed flash memory as the major non-volatile memory, being both faster and smaller. PCM is also more reliable - flash memory can degrade after as few as 10,000 writes, whilst PCM can last for over 100 million write cycles. Intel licensed the technology from Ovonyx in 2000, with IBM, Macronix and Qimonda announcing strong developments in the technology towards the end of last year. Intel hasn't set any firm dates yet, but phase change memory could be just around the corner.

Although ATI was a respected manufacturer of chipsets for Intel-based motherboards, the merger with AMD shook up the market a little bit, leaving some doubt as to whether or not AMD would continue to supply hardware supporting its major competitor. However, AMD has revealed that it is happy for the old ATI chipset development to continue, provided that Intel is willing to have AMD producing chipsets for its processors. AMD has also admitted that it isn't planning to dominate the chipset market like Intel - its current aim is just to have a reasonable share, instead of trying to topple Intel and face a price war.

DigiTimes compiled a comprehensive chart about the latest price cuts Intel is about to announce. The source of these information is an Economic Daily News report which states Intel was forced by AMD's new low-cost chipset RS690 to slash the prices earlier than planned. So it makes quite sense that only the remains of the Desktop NetBurst microarchitecture CPUs are affected:

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 28, 2007 - Members of a special United Nations group met today with Silicon Valley leaders to explore how the technology industry, government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can come together to bolster development around the world.

Intel Corporation and the U.N.'s Global Alliance for Information and Communications Technology and Development (U.N. GAID) jointly organized the summit. Intel Chairman Craig Barrett, who also chairs the U.N. GAID, said the meeting provided a critical platform for sharing ideas and forging partnerships among prominent members of government, the international development community and Silicon Valley's businesses, academia and the venture capital industry.

Intel Corporation today announced that it will invest $1 billion to $1.5 billion in its Rio Rancho site to retool Fab 11X for production on Intel's next generation 45 nanometer (nm) manufacturing process. Fab 11X will be the company's fourth factory scheduled to use the 45nm process, with production in New Mexico scheduled to start in the second half of next year.

Intel Corporation today announced the mobile clinical assistant (MCA) is ready to enable nurses to spend more time with patients, do their jobs on the move while remaining connected, and manage the administration of medications. Motion Computing's C5 is the first product based on Intel's MCA platform and has earned support from clinicians and nurses participating in pilot studies around the world.

As Intel's first platform built specifically for healthcare, the MCA is an important step in the company's efforts to better connect clinicians to comprehensive patient information on a real-time basis. The lightweight, spill-resistant, drop-tolerant and easily disinfected MCA allows nurses to access up-to-the-minute patient records and to document a patient's condition instantly, enhancing clinical workflow while reducing the staff's administrative workload.

Intel has added the Celeron D 365 processors to its Celeron D series for desktops. The Celeron D 365 operates at 3.60GHz and it is the highest model of the series. It uses a 512KB L2 cache and supports a 533MHz FSB. Produced with Intel's 65nm manufacturing process, the Celeron D processor also includes the Execute Disable Bit capability. This feature, combined with a supported operating system, allows memory to be marked as executable or non-executable. For additional information visit this page.

Intel Corp. announced on Wednesday that its server and workstation products made using 45nm process technology are on schedule, and will be available this year.

Kirk Skaugen, the chief of Intel's Xeon group, said during a conference call with analysts that the company plans to introduce low-power quad-core chip with 50W thermal design power in early March, to present code-named Caneland multi-processor server platform in Q3 2007 and to launch the first Xeon DP (dual processor) products made using 45nm process technology in the second half of the year.

The new Intel Xeon 45nm microprocessor for dual-socket applications based on the core that Intel calls Penryn will be drop-in compatible with the company's contemporary Intel 5000-series core-logic sets (code-named Bensley and Glidewell platforms), however, there will be an improved version of the Intel 5000-series chipset aimed at HPC/WS market segments that features 1600MHz processor system bus (PSB) coming in the second half of the year to support higher-performance Xeon "Clovertown" chips with operation at 3GHz.

In a presentation Intel reveals a 3GHz 1600MHz FSB quad core Xeon. New features aren't mentioned. If Intel doesn't stay ahead of AMD with this chip they have yet another weapon nearing completion, the 45nm Xeon parts which should offer even higher clock speeds and more cache are over 3 months ahead of schedule. Intel will also launch Tigerton for quad socket configurations in Q3 this year, with Tigerton Intel should reclaim the crown on the multi socket market as well. If this will actually be enough to beat Barcelona (K10, former K8L) is yet to be seen, it looks promising though.

For the full presentation follow the source.

ChileHardware bring us pictures of a Micro ATX motherboard featuring Intel's G33 chipset (otherwise known as Bearlake), coupled with the ICH9 southbridge.

Specifications are likely to be the following:

• Socket LGA 775, Micro ATX
• Supports Intel Core 2 Duo/Celeron 400 Series Processor
• Intel G33 + ICH9
• FSB 1333 MHz
• Supports Dual Channel DDR2 667/800 MHz
• 4 x DDR2 DIMM Memory Slots, Max. Supports up to 8GB Memory
• 1 x PCI-E x16, 1 x PCI-E x1, 2 x PCI Slots
• On Board Graphic Max. Memory Share 384 MB
• 8+2-Channel HD Audio, 12 x USB 2.0
• 4 x SATAII 3Gb/s Connectors, GbE LAN

Alienware, a famous computer manufacturer and system integrator, today announced that the Area-51 7500 desktops will be available with Intel's quad-core Q6600 CPUs.

According to senior vice president Brian Joyce, "…customers will instantly see a performance increase on processor-intensive applications such as gaming, video editing and encoding."

In addition to four computing cores in a single processor package, the unique-looking Alienware-branded 7500 also features Windows Vista, NVIDIA Next Generation Graphics, low-latency DDR 2 memory, nForce 6 SLI x16 Motherboard and HDCP ready graphics.

Primarily aimed at gamers and multimedia enthusiasts, the Area-51 7500 costs around £1,408 inc VAT (approx. $2800) and will be available from 6th March from the Alienware website.

The lawsuit, brought about by investors, accuses computer maker Dell Inc. of "secretly receiving approximately $250 million a quarter in likely illegal kickbacks payments" from its long time partner Intel. This money was supposedly received in return for an exclusive purchase agreement for Intel's microprocessors. Chip maker Intel claims that the accusations are just a renewal of similar previous complaints by chip maker AMD (Advanced Micro Devices). Dell would not comment on the lawsuit. In the past Dell has only used processors manufactured by Intel, but just last year began buying processors from Intel's competition AMD.

In addition, Dell is also currently under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and the U.S. Justice Dept. for its accounting practices.

Source: CNNMoney

Pictures of parts of a motherboard using Intel's P35 Express chipset have been posted at Chile Hardware:Motherboards featuring the upcoming Intel P35 Express variant from the upcoming Bearlake-family desktop chipsets will be some of the first to support DDR3 memory. They are officially slated for late 2007.

Apparently the chipset not only supports DDR3, but is also backwards compatible with DDR2. However, both cannot be used at the same time. The leaked motherboard supports up to four sticks of DDR3 memory rated at 800 MHz or 1066 MHz.

It will also support up to a 1333 MHz front-side-bus on Socket T, also known as LGA775 processors. LGA775 processors supported by the upcoming P35 Express-based board include Intel Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad and Celeron 4xx-series. There is no mention if previous Pentium 4, Pentium D and Celeron D processors for LGA775 remain supported on the new platform.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 11, 2007 - Intel Corporation researchers have developed the world's first programmable processor that delivers supercomputer-like performance from a single, 80-core chip not much larger than the size of a finger nail while using less electricity than most of today's home appliances. This is the result of the company's innovative 'Tera-scale computing' research aimed at delivering Teraflop -- or trillions of calculations per second --performance for future PCs and servers. Technical details of the Teraflop research chip will be presented at the annual Integrated Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) this week in San Francisco.