Skip to main content

Intel Posts Strong Quarter, Talks New Atom Processors

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Chipmaking giant Intel delivered some news its investors—and perhaps the whole technology sector—wanted to hear: sales are up. Intel’s financial results for the first fiscal quarter of 2010 show income that’s nearly four times over the previous year’s. Intel’s earnings for the quarter tallied up to some $2.4 billion, boosted in part by sales of high-end processors mainly used in server systems—exactly the kinds of sales many enterprises delayed as tough economic conditions forced them to tighten their belts. Demand for higher-end notebook systems also helped boost Intel’s profits as corporations got around to upgrading employees’ computers. Intel’s gross margin for the quarter was a whopping 63 percent.

“The investments we’re making in leading edge technology are delivering the most compelling product line-up in our history,” said Intel president and CEO Paul Otellini, in a statement. “These leadership products combined with growing worldwide demand and continued outstanding execution resulted in Intel’s best first quarter ever.”

Recommended Videos

Meanwhile, at the Intel Developer Forum underway in Beijing, Intel has outlined new system-on-a-chip products under the codename “Tunnel Creek.” The new designs are aimed at systems like in-vehicle entertainment systems, printers, IP phones, and other media-savvy devices, and are based on Intel’s successful Atom processor line. With Tunnel Creek systems, system makers will be able to make PCI Express devices that connect directly to the chip. Intel sees these systems being key to the development of new types digital media-capable devices—what they’re calling “media phones”—sine they combine a processor, memory controller, graphics engine, and video engine all onto a single chip. Chinese carmaker Hawtai has already announced plans to incorporate systems based on Intel Atom processors and it’s forthcoming MeeGo operating system (being developed in conjunction with Nokia), starting with its B11 luxury sedan.

And speaking of Atom processors, Intel CEO Paul Otellini mentioned during the earnings call covering the company’s first-quarter results that the company has a new dual-core Atom processor on track for a release in the second quarter of 2010. Given that Intel already ships dual-core Atom processors for desktop (or “nettop”) systems, industry watchers speculate Intel is getting ready to launch a dual-core version of the Atom processor for mobile computers like notebooks and netbooks—and maybe even the occasional tablet device. Although a dual core Atom would undoubtedly consume more power than its single-core brethren, it might help bridge the significant performance gap between current netbooks and even low-end traditional notebooks.

Geoff Duncan
Former Contributor
Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…
Topics
Despite past struggles, Intel CEO confirms that new CPUs are on track
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger holding a Panther Lake chip.

Intel's had a challenging year or two, at least as far as its best processors are concerned. With things like the Raptor Lake instability issues and the less-than-impressive generational improvements offered by the Core Ultra 9 285K and the rest of the Arrow Lake lineup, Intel's next-gen CPUs have a tough road ahead. However, Intel's new CEO Lip-Bu Tan shared a reassuring update on the product roadmap, including Panther Lake and Nova Lake CPUs.

Lip-Bu Tan stepped into the role of CEO earlier this year, following the departure of Intel's previous CEO, Pat Gelsinger. In a new letter sent to stockholders (which was shared by Wccftech), Lip-Bu Tan admits that there's room for improvement, but follows with a hopeful note: "While there are clear challenges that we need to overcome, there are also significant opportunities to accelerate our turnaround and improve our performance."

Read more
Intel might not launch a better Battlemage GPU, and gamers really need one
The back of the Intel Arc B580 graphics card.

The GPU market is in a pretty rough state right now, which makes it almost impossible to buy one of the best graphics cards. Now would be a great time to learn that another good GPU is on the horizon ... but, according to a new leak, Intel isn't working on a flagship GPU to follow the Arc B580. The fate of its next-gen GPUs, dubbed Arc Celestial, also seems a bit uncertain.

The scoop comes from Jaykihn on X (Twitter), a frequent hardware leaker. As always, take the following with a healthy helping of salt, because nothing is ever confirmed until Intel says so.

Read more
AMD dominates Amazon CPU sales, but Intel still fights back
The Ryzen 7 9800X3D sitting on a motherboard.

Although the market share would tell you otherwise, the battle between AMD and Intel is quite fierce right now, and it's AMD that often tops the list of the best processors in the last couple of years. Intel, while it holds a bigger part of the CPU market, is less of a go-to for gamers than AMD these days, and this is reflected in Amazon sales. Just yesterday, AMD held the top 15 spots on the list of Amazon's CPU best sellers. Today, Intel is making its way back.

As spotted by TechEpiphany on X (Twitter), AMD really dominated Amazon CPU sales just recently. Every single CPU in the top 15 belonged to AMD, with Intel nowhere to be seen. Surprisingly, the top processor turned out to be the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which is a favorite among gamers.

Read more