Intel Sending out 32nm 'Westmere' Samples

By Jane McEntegart
published

Westmere, the next evolution of the Nehalem architecture, appears to be on track.

During an investor call earlier in the week, Intel CEO Paul Otellini revealed that the company’s 32-nm chip making process is well underway.

“Our 32nm process is very healthy and shows great promise for us. This is the reason we recently announced a $7.0 billion investment in plants and equipment to accelerate high volume deployment of this technology,” said Otellini.

The news ties into the progress related to Westmere, which is built on the 32-nm technology. Otellini not only revealed that is Westmere on track thanks to the stabilizing of manufacturing, but that Intel has already begun sending out samples of the part.

“We have pulled in Westmere, our fist 32nm product family, and will now be shipping those products later this year. We have shipped thousands of Westmere samples to over 30 OEM customers already.” he added.

Check out the full conference call transcript here.

Jane McEntegart
40 Comments Comment from the forums
  • rodney_ws
    All hail our silicon overlords!
    Reply
  • V3ctor
    If Intel keeps running like this, there's no way AMD can catch them. Kudos to Intel, the giant has woken (and thanks AMD for the Athlon :D)
    Reply
  • Greatwalrus
    Awesome! I know AMD and GlobalFounries is on great track with 32nm and/or 28nm also.

    But, Intel at least, probably still won't releasing low-end 32nm chips until late this year - after all, they still have to release the Core i5's (45nm) around quarter 3, so I don't think they'd start releasing 32nm products before then.
    Reply
  • chris13th
    i smell a fanboy.
    Reply
  • chris13th
    V3ctorIf Intel keeps running like this, there's no way AMD can catch them. Kudos to Intel, the giant has woken (and thanks AMD for the Athlon )Apparently you only do half the research in order to have an educated opinion. have you ever heard of GlobalFoundries?
    Reply
  • hillarymakesmecry
    My 6750 still plays (fps)games at 95% of the framerate of the new fancy $1,000 processors. I need a reason to update something other than my video card.
    Reply
  • martin0642
    The foundry spinoff won't create a new processor design. I wish AMD well, but their getting hammered by Intel. Competition drives innovation, and the Phenom architecture was less than phenomenal. It just seems like if you state the true state of affairs that Intel is doing much better than AMD, fanboys rate you negatively for stating the obvious.

    I wish AMD could plop down a devastating new architecture that would wipe the floor with Intel, but I don't see that happening any time soon, and until it does, the company with the superior architecture gets my business.
    Reply
  • armistitiu
    martin0642I wish AMD could plop down a devastating new architecture that would wipe the floor with Intel, but I don't see that happening any time soon, and until it does, the company with the superior architecture gets my business.
    You have a point there but not everybody thinks like you. Most of us really care about perf/price and AMD is doing very well at that. Maybe they won't get that much profit by lowering their prices but i believe they're certainly going to get them trough this year. Next year will be different because maybe the economy will get better and core i5 will be out but we'll see how well it fares.
    There is another aspect that you are not seeing. Nehalem is the top notch architecture right? Who is going to buy it in this economy? i7 sales aren't hurting Phenom II but i5 might do that.That's why next year will be critical to AMD.
    I like AMD's products, i bought an X3 720 and it works great but i think that 2011 is a bit too late for a new architecture. I mean Intel will release sandy bridge by then. I'm just hoping that the long awaited Bulldozer will worth the 6 year (or more) developing time.
    Now about Intel's 32nm architecture... I'm betting High-k metal gate dielectrics accounts for a big percent in Intel's performance lead because of the smaller switch times (and smaller transistors,less leakage and so on). I'm waiting for GlobalFoundries to get this going with AMD's CPU's and maybe then we'll see some more competition.
    Reply
  • rooseveltdon
    martin0642The foundry spinoff won't create a new processor design. I wish AMD well, but their getting hammered by Intel. Competition drives innovation, and the Phenom architecture was less than phenomenal. It just seems like if you state the true state of affairs that Intel is doing much better than AMD, fanboys rate you negatively for stating the obvious.I wish AMD could plop down a devastating new architecture that would wipe the floor with Intel, but I don't see that happening any time soon, and until it does, the company with the superior architecture gets my business. lol moron, amd is focused on providing the best price to performance ration, so go ahead and spend over three hundred dollars just so you can check your email and play some dx9 game lol...can't stand fan boys.
    Reply
  • hellwig
    martin0642I wish AMD could plop down a devastating new architecture that would wipe the floor with Intel, but I don't see that happening any time soon, and until it does, the company with the superior architecture gets my business.Your argument is like saying you only buy Lamborghinis or Porsches, and that Ford, GM, Toyota, etc... should all just stop making cars since they don't have a car that can compete with the Enzo Ferrari. Most people don't have a problem with their compact or sedan. Most people can't afford any more? Why pay $1k for a Core i7 Extreme when I really just need Athlon X2 4400+ performance, which I can get for under $50?
    Reply