Intel Corp, the world"s biggest microchip maker, unveiled fast new processors on Sunday made with new techniques that can etch circuitry nearly 200 times smaller than a red blood cell.
The chips are the first in the world to be mass-produced with a 45-nanometer process, about one-third smaller than current 65-nanometer technology. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter.
"Across all segments we"re increasing performance and increasing energy efficiency," said Tom Kilroy, general manager of Intel"s enterprise group.
Known by the project name Penryn, the chips hold little in the way of fundamental design advances but are an important step in continuing the industry"s track record of delivering chips that get smaller and faster every two years or so.
They use a new kind of transistor -- the basic building block of microchips -- that Intel unveiled earlier this year in what was hailed as one of the industry"s biggest advances in four decades.