Intel Expected to Unveil Tualatin Next Week

Ushering in the first of many processors built on a smaller, 0.13-micron architecture, Intel next Monday will formally introduce its Tualatin chip, a Pentium III processor that runs cooler and uses less power than its predecessors, an Intel spokesperson says.

The Tualatin chip will likely debut at two speeds, 1.13 GHz and 1.26 GHz, according to sources familiar with the chip maker's plans.

Current Intel processors including the Pentium 4, Pentium III, Celeron, and Xeon chips are built to a slightly larger 0.18-micron architecture.

Tualatin chips, with their smaller transistor relays, will be able to operate not only at higher clock speeds but will also perform at cooler temperatures while consuming less power than 0.18-micron chips, Intel officials say.

Such performance makes Tualatin ideal for mobile computers and other systems that require cool, low-power operation, such as server blades, Intel officials say.

Several PC vendors, including Compaq and Toshiba, have already pledged to ship the first Tualatin chips in their mobile products when the processor becomes available. Dell, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and other computer makers that offer the latest Intel processors to their customers will likely follow suit.

Industry analysts expect Tualatin to become a formidable contender in the low-power, low-heat processor market, taking on competitors such as Transmeta's low-power Crusoe processor and 0.13-micron chips currently being engineered by Advanced Micro Devices. AMD's 0.13-micron chips could hit the market before year's end, an industry source says.

Intel will begin to transition its Pentium 4 line of desktop processors to 0.13-micron sometime in the fourth quarter of this year, an Intel spokesperson says.

The first 0.13-micron Pentium 4 chips will likely arrive at speeds of 2 GHz and 2.2 GHz. By mid-2002, Intel will offer a Pentium 4 running at 2.4 GHz, according to sources.

Experts believe Intel's desktop PC line of Pentium III chips will slowly begin to be phased out as the chip maker proceeds with its Pentium 4 road map. The Pentium III name will remain as a mobile brand as generations of the Tualatin chip roll out.

A mobile Pentium 4 chip, built to 0.13-micron specs and running at 1.5 GHz, should arrive from Intel in early 2002, sources say.

In 2003, Intel will deliver a new mobile chip architecture, possibly code-named Banias, a source says.