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Intel bullish over Atom processor for ‘netbooks’

Intel has offered a bullish forecast for its new Atom processor for low-end “netbooks” and other mobile computing devices, although executives conceded that the product could eat into sales of more profitable notebook chips.

The comments came on Tuesday as the US chipmaker also confirmed plans to roll out microprocessors based on its new “Nehalem” architecture, which analysts said would allow Intel to emulate a hardware architecture already used by AMD and cement its lead over its smaller rival. The aggressive plans for both Atom and the Nehalem chip came at the Intel developer forum in San Francisco, the company’s main event for announcing its detailed product plans.

Although only representing a small part of its output at present, the Atom processors attracted much of the attention given the unexpectedly high consumer demand this year for “netbooks”.

Intel originally believed these low-cost laptops would sell only in emerging markets, but has since discovered a strong market in the developed world for families looking for a second, third or fourth machine, said Dadi Perlmutter, head of its mobile computing efforts.

While the company did not give specific numbers, a chart presented by Intel at the forum suggested that machines based on the low-power Atom chip, which was launched this year, would account for nearly 40 per cent of mobile devices powered by Intel chips in 2012, with the rest based on regular notebook processors.

Mr Perlmutter conceded that the low-priced chips could reduce sales of more profitable products. However, he added that “sometimes cannibalisation is not such a bad thing”, since the low-end notebooks that were likely to be affected were more marginal products for Intel.

Also, while Atom-based machines would be good for simple tasks such as internet browsing, watching video or playing simple games, they would be impractical for the multiple simultaneous processing tasks that users of more powerful machines require.

Intel confirmed plans to put Atom processors into smartphones and other smaller form-factor devices next year, and predicted a wide range of other uses for the chip in “embedded” consumer electronics products.

Источник: Financial Times

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