Intel is believed to be working on a new chip design for its Atom family of processors that will arrive two generations beyond the current design. The new chip would incorporate the 3D transistor process recently announced for its forthcoming Ivy Bridge chips. However, it is said that the new Atom processors, codenamed “Silvermont,” will also have an all-new micro-architecture.
According to CNET, the new design is expected to bring significant gains in both performance and in power consumption. Intel will be outstripping Moore’s Law over the next three years as it seeks to remain competitive with ARM in the low power SOC stakes. Moore’s Law states that roughly every two years, the number of transistors on processors will double.
Intel should outpace this as it moves from 45-nanometer processes to 32-nanometers by the end of this year. Silvermont will be fabricated on a 22-nanometer process when it arrives in 2013.
