Intel to start 45nm production this year
Intel will begin production of its 45nm Penryn family of processors in the second half of this year. The processors, which will feature enhancements to the Intel Core microarchitecture, will take advantage of Hi-k process technology. The hafnium based high k and metal gate transistor design brings higher performance and more energy efficient operation.
First to be announced is the Quad Core Intel Xeon processor 5300 series, available in 2 and 2.33GHz versions. The processors are designed for intense computing and I/O intensive workloads within high end communications and enterprise systems.
According to Intel, there are more than 15 45nm Hi-k product designs in various stages of development. There will be two 45nm fabs in production by the end of the year and four in production by the second half of 2008.
