Intel: 32nm process is ready to go

Intel has completed development of its 32nm production technology

Intel has completed the development phase of its next-generation manufacturing process that will be used to make 32nm chips, and said it is on track for production in the fourth quarter of 2009.

A move to 32nm technology will enable Intel to produce more energy-efficient and faster switching transistors, leading to higher performance processors that consume less power. Intel said it will reveal more details of its 32nm process at the IEEE International Electron Devices meeting (IEDM) in San Francisco next week.

The 32nm process makes use of the second generation of Intel's high-k and metal gate technology, the company said. The first chips to be built from it are expected to be "die-shrink" versions of the current 45nm Nehalem family of processors, as part of Intel's "tick-tock" strategy of alternating the introduction of a new chip architecture followed by that of a new process technology.

In a statement, Intel senior fellow Mark Bohr said that the company's manufacturing strategy had already led to the creation of entirely new product lines for MIDs, consumer electronics, embedded computers and netbooks this year.

Intel is also expected to participate in a briefing on future 22nm chip technology during IEDM.