Back in February Intel announced an update to its 32nm next-generation processor plans, revealing that it is accelerating the process shrink by skipping some CPUs that were going to arrive later this year - namely some 45nm dual-core Nehalem variants. The first Intel processors to be built using 32nm technology are codenamed Westmere and, according to information revealed by CEO Paul Otellini during an earnings conference call, such chips have already been sampled to around 30 laptop and desktop PC manufacturers for testing.


Otellini said that Westmere will ship in volume later this year and could be on sale in PCs by early 2010. The new chips are basically die-shrink versions of the current 45nm Nehalem family of processors, but will come in a two-chip package configuration, where a die containing a graphics core and the memory controller will sit alongside the CPU die. There will be a desktop variant known as Clarkdale, comprising of two cores with hyper-threading technology, and a mobile chip codenamed Arrandale with the same arrangement.