Intel will be releasing the highly anticipated dual-core Atom processor this quarter. The announcement comes after the chip maker had an over 400% profit rise for the first quarter this year compared to the same period last year.
An Intel spokeswoman declined to comment whether the new dual-core Atom processors would be aimed at netbooks or small desktops. As Intel has already released Dual-core Atom processors such as the D410 and D510 for small desktops it is likely the new processor will be for netbooks. Dual-core processors would be a first-of-a-kind for the Atom series on netbooks. They would give users a much wanted boost of power to the small devices which are targeted at users for web browsing and other basic applications.
Intel released little detail of the upcoming dual-core Atom processors but the future release prompted Intel president and chief executive Paul Otellini to say, "The next innovation coming to Atom is on dual-core".
This announcement comes as Intel"s profit for the first quarter of 2010 was $2.4 billion compared with a $647 million profit for the same period a year ago. The 43 cents per share rise beat analysts" prediction of a profit of 38 cents per share. Overall Intel"s first-quarter revenue went up 44% to $10.3 billion over the same quarter a year ago.
Commenting on the rise in profits for the company Otellini said it was Intel"s "best first quarter ever".
"The industry has nearly fully recovered."
The high profits are due to strong demand for laptop chips but Otellini also cited demand for higher-end PC products, mobile microprocessors and the raising average age of PCs. The raising age of PCs is a possible cause for the recent high corporate demand.
"It makes business sense to swap these out."
Intel is predicted to have higher results from server related sales next quarter after the release of the eight-core Xeon 7500.
Edited to hopefully clear up the confusion over dual-core Atom for small desktops & netbooks