Intel Paves the Way for the Wireless Future

Intel is moving a step closer to a truly wireless future. Preparing for the day when gadgets like video watch phones and wearable computers are the norm, Intel is unveiling Thursday an experimental chip that combines the core components of today's cell phones and handheld computers.

The "wireless-Internet-on-a-chip" technology could enable a new era of wireless products with access to the Internet, extensive battery life, and greater processing power, Intel says in a statement released at the Intel Developer Forum in Amsterdam.

Intel says it has succeeded in merging three manufacturing processes into one. The chip has a microprocessor, flash memory, and analog communication circuits on a single piece of silicon built using a single manufacturing process. Traditionally, these components are produced using separate technologies in different factories, according to Intel.

Chips produced with the new manufacturing process could achieve clock speeds of up to 1 GHz, about five times more powerful than chips used in existing mobile phones, Intel says. The chip is based on Intel's Xscale microarchitecture, which enables low power consumption and high performance.

Battery life can be extended to a month; most of today's handsets only last a couple of days on a single charge.

Cost-Effective Chips

Mobile phone manufacturers have always asked Intel why it couldn't integrate the components in a cell phone on a single chip, says Benny Ginman, Intel's director for government, education, and communication in Europe.

"About five years ago we said it could be done, but not in a cost-effective way. In a 0.13-micron production process it becomes cheaper to make a single chip than three separate ones," says Ginman, adding that Intel will start producing Pentium 4 processors in a 0.13-micron production process next year.

One analyst doubts the cost benefit described by Intel, but says increased transistor density on a chip will make production of a multifunctional chip cheaper.

"The advantage of having different processes is that you can optimize costs. Integration is the right way to go, but today it probably costs more than producing separate parts. As the transistor density of silicon increases it will become cheaper to make a single chip rather than three different ones," says Martin Reynolds, vice president and research fellow at market researcher Gartner Group.

"Intel is giving an advanced demonstration [of what they can do in the future]; we won't see it [on the market] for a couple of years," says Reynolds.

In the past decade functionality and battery life has been added to mobile devices, while reducing the cost to users. Intel says it believes that its invention will add to this evolution.

Intel expects to see devices such as wearable computers and video watch phones out on the market in five or ten years, says Ron Smith, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Wireless Computing and Communications Group in the statement.

Intel has plans to take the "wireless-Internet-on-a-chip" unveiled in Amsterdam Thursday into production, but no date has been set, according to Ginman.