Intel May Delay Its Next-Generation Nehalem Processors

As we mentioned before, Intel's next generation mobile processor, the Atom, is expected to ship sometime after September 2008. This is a serious issue as system integrators like Asus, MSI and others rely on Intel to provide them with the computing power demanded by their most recently released notebooks. To cap it all off, Intel is apparently going to delay the mass release of its next-generation Nehalem processors, for yet unknown reasons.

"Our checks suggest Intel's Nehalem server parts will initially launch in single-socket only, which we believe will be viewed by customers and investors as a delayed ramp of the company's second generation 45nm server architecture due out in late 2H '08. We believe this may be viewed as the second launch delay in recent weeks and is likely to call into question Intel's solid record of on-time execution," said analyst Doug Freedman of the American Technology Research, according to the EETimes website.

The news is contradictory to last year's statements of Paul Otellini, Intel's CEO, who said that the Santa-Clara based company would be ready to ship its octa-core Nehalem processors this year. But, unfortunately, it appears that Intel will not be able to ship the next generation octa-core processors by the end of this year, and will only produce a quad-core implementation of its Nehalem, code-named Bloomfield. Also, this leaves room for AMD's next-generation Shanghai processors to get a bigger share of the server systems market.

Even so, it is uncertain whether AMD's new product will surpass Intel's current 45nm-based Xeon lineup, on matters of performance. And, if we are to consider that the next-generation Nehalem processors require a completely new infrastructure with new core-logic sets, new mainboards, new sockets, cooling systems and so on, it becomes all the more clear that system integrators have suddenly found more time to prep for Intel's upcoming Nehalems.