Intel Corp. Monday said it had completed initial production runs of a chip with two processors-in-one, setting the stage for mainstream marketing of personal computers with two processor "brains."
Intel's announcement, while expected, came as a rival consortium made up of Sony Corp., International Business Machines Corp. and Toshiba Corp. announced details of their "Cell" processor based on similar so-called "multi-core" technology.
Intel, the world's largest microchip maker, said in a statement it would add two so-called dual-core products to its Pentium family of chips during the second quarter, including the Pentium processor Extreme Edition.
Dual- and multi-core products include two or more processors on a single chip of silicon. That speeds up computing, although software must be rewritten to take full advantage of the extra power.
Sony is expected to use Cell starting next year to build its much-anticipated Playstation 3 video system.
Intel's Pentium Extreme Edition also will include hyper-threading technology -- a separate technology Intel began offering three years ago.
With hyper-threading and dual cores, Intel chips can process four software calculations simultaneously by efficiently using resources that otherwise would sit idle.
The ability to process up to four software "threads" simultaneously gives computers the impression that it has four separate processors with which to process data. Multi-threading increases performance and responsiveness on demanding tasks.
Intel is in a race with rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. to see who can be first to market with dual-core or multi-core technology.
Intel said it has more than 10 multi-core related projects under way.
