Intel To Show Atom With 3D Transistors Next Week

A highlight of Intel's analyst meeting next week will be details of a new architecture for Atom, building on its recent announcement of the first 3D transistors in the commercial market.

When the chip giant unveiled its promised move to the 22 nanometer process, which will help reduce size and power for mobile device chips in particular, it sprung a bigger surprise - that its long running R&D in 3D transistors was ready for primetime, promising significant enhancements in key areas like power consumption.

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• At that event, Intel talked mainly of its main Core architecture and the upcoming Ivy Bridge chip, but Atom was clearly also in its mind. Now, CNet reports, it is to detail the Silvermont design, which will deliver the benefits of 3D and 22nm to Atom, potentially making it a far more serious challenger to ARM-based processors in the mobile and embedded worlds.
• The Silvermont system-on-chip will be two generations beyond the current Atom products and will ship in 2013. It will be a major change in design, adding a brand new micro-architecture on top of the new transistor structures, said CNet's sources.

This will see Intel keeping its promise to accelerate Atom's roadmap at a faster pace than Moore's Law. Current Atom SoCs are produced with the 45nm process, and Intel will move to volume 32nm designs later this year, and then Silvermont a year after that - in other words, three process generations and one new architecture within three years.