Intel Details Mobile Processor Plans

Intel recently produced the first silicon for its upcoming line of Banias processors for mobile computers and expects the chip to begin shipping during the first quarter of 2003, according to Anand Chandrasekher, vice president and general manager of the Santa Clara, California, company's Mobile Platforms Group.

Until now, Intel has said that Banias, the company's first processor designed specifically for mobile computers, would ship sometime during the first half of 2003. Among the characteristics expected of Banias are high performance and low power.

Chandrasekher's announcement that Banias will ship during the first quarter of 2003 came following a keynote speech at the Intel Developer Forum in which he demonstrated a Banias processor running alongside an Odem chipset, the prototype chipset developed for the Banias processor.

Sneak Peek

The demonstration follows the first outing of the Banias chip at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in Seattle last week.

Chandrasekher did not disclose the demonstration Banias chip's clock speed or the amount of power consumed by the chip, saying that the company would release further details of the chip later this year.

In addition to Banias, Chandrasekher demonstrated a 2-GHz version of the mobile Pentium 4 processor and said Intel planned to ship a version of the chip running at that speed or higher before the end of this year. Intel also expects to begin shipping a 1-GHz version of its low-voltage mobile Pentium III processor by the end of the year, he said.