Intel Corp., the world"s largest maker of x86 central processing units, said that the first 45nm microprocessor"s design will be completed this quarter and the commercial shipments of such chips will begin in the second half of next year.
"Our factories have been executing extremely well with over 40 million 65nm processors now shipped and a crossover from 90nm now achieved. Our 45nm process development is on track for the second half of 2007 and we plan to tape out the first of fifteen 45nm processors this quarter," said Paul Otellini, Intel"s chief executive during the discussion of the company"s financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2006.
Tape-out refers to the release of the layout design package to the manufacturing fab for the creation of photolithographic masks. Practically it means that the chip developer is confident in the released design.
It was unclear which microprocessor Intel plans to tape out in Q4 2006.