Intel CEO spells out Atom, small-device push

At Intel's investor meeting Tuesday, CEO Paul Otellini discussed how the company is moving to system-on-chip technology in a big way.

Otellini began by saying that the market outlook remains positive. "A little better than we expected. So far, so good." He said he was "more firm in my belief that we will see seasonality in the second half," alluding to Intel's expectation that the PC market should pick up in the second half of the year. Otellini added that Gartner's forecast of a PC sales decline between 9 and 10 percent in 2009 may be too pessimistic.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini answers a question during the Intel investor meeting Tuesday

System-on-chip (SOC) opportunities will be driven by Intel's upcoming 32-nanometer technology. "All that you're doing is reducing (a computer) system to a single chip," he said. Market segments that will benefit from this technology are Netbooks, smartphones, and embedded devices, he said, adding that Netbooks and smartphones each represent a $10 billion market opportunity by 2011.

Otellini talked up Intel's new relationship with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which involves "deep collaboration" on the Atom SOC chips used in smartphones. It means, he said, "taking Atom and porting it over to the TSMC process, to help further Intel architecture into those new markets."

Traditional PC markets will give way to "targeted micro-segments" such as the high-end desktop gaming segment, exemplified by PCs from Voodoo and Alienware, Otellini said. "The old big, beige, boring desktop is dead." Intel's upcoming Larrabee graphics chip will address this market, in addition to standard multicore processors.

The consumer desktop market will be transitioning to iMac-style all-in-one systems, Otellini said. There will be Atom-based "Nettops," small entry-level computers priced at a couple hundred dollars, he said. The desktop market will see "small growth" as people incrementally replace the 800 million units in use.

Otellini said Intel will mix and match technology across different product segments very quickly now--the number of cores and the type of graphics, for example, will be quickly rejiggered across different product categories.

Intel views its fab (factory) strategy as extremely important. Otellini said that Intel is one of the few companies that has committed to a next-generation 22-nanometer manufacturing process. "Intel was able to create a market for Netbooks faster than the (Nintendo) Wii and iPhone...Only Intel has the (manufacturing) scale to do this," he said.

[megustansalchichas]

fast broadband = no need for big laptops, just give me two computers: a home 'server' and a netbook to access it on the road via remote desktop. With a fast enough connection I don't need fancy graphics on my netbook/ipod since I'll just be displaying what I have going on at home. call it personal client/server interaction "pcsi" -you heard it here first!
intel, get to work!

[Mr. Dee]

Is Otellini trying to say that people won't be interested in upgrading their PC's anymore? It has always been one of the hallmarks of the PC form factor over the past 15 to 20 years. The iMac is very proprietary, if one thing breaks on that thing, everything breaks. I believe the Desktop form factors such as towers will still exist 5 to 10 years from now, just smaller thanks to Intel's own technologies such as SOC and Larrabee which will consolidate discrete GPUs into the CPU itself. I believe that the ability to open that case and throw more memory and storage in must still be possible and easy to do. I don't want a Paris Hilton Workstation, I want a PC. If Intel can achieve the iMac look with easy upgradability then fine by me.

[pithenumber]

not really
you can replace stuff on the iMac, not as much stuff as you would on a normal desktop though

[eightwings]

Sooner or later, the market will come to its senses and realize that neither Intel's antiquated CPU technology nor Larrabee, a GPGPU hybrid built on Intel's antiquated CPU technology, is the solution to the parallel programming crisis. Larrabee sounds powerful and cool until you come face to face with the nasty problem of programming the heterogeneous beast. In the end, neither GPU not CPU (nor a hybrid) will survive the coming paradigm shift. What is needed is a new type of processor built to support a universal and deterministic parallel programming model. Intel (and those who invest in Intel's technology) should tread carefully because being a market behemoth is no guarantee of invincibility. A visionary startup or a true maverick may sneak up behind this sleeping giant and steal the pot of gold.

How to Solve the Parallel Programming Crisis:
http://rebelscience.blogspot.com/2008/07/how-to-solve-parallel-programming.html

[kwhsy82]

Geeze, why all this hostility! Otellini is saying that the second half of the year may be slightly less gloomy than predicted (no complaints with that on my part). They are pushing ahead on incredibly sophisticated manufacturing processes to enable low-cost, low-power usage netbooks. They'll keep increasing performance for high-end game enthusiasts. In other words, less one-size-fits-all. That's fine by me! I'd like a $149 netbook for my daughters some day. Sure, maybe they won't win, maybe NVidia or ARM, etc., but a company predicting a better economy and continued innovation, I'll take that!

[dreamhunk]

who ever said a gaming pc isn't sexy. There is pc gaming pc's that is alot more sexy than apples. The desk top pc's are not going to die maybe their ugily looks will :P

[dreamhunk]

Oh one more thing, alot of people wanted pc gaming dead .well pc gaming is the backbone of the pc industry and this is the end reslut. This also means that AMDand BM will want to pull out of the pc Industry too or go bankuprt!

Any one else want to debate pc gaming not being the backbone of the pc Industy. The media,sony and micro soft have them self to blame.