Intel Makes Smaller, Cheaper Chip

Intel is working on a tiny, inexpensive microprocessor aimed at very low-end computers. Code-named Diamondville, the chip is for computers priced under $250, especially portable ones that Intel calls Netbooks. Manufacturers are creating such machines for emerging markets, as well as for industrialized countries, where they’re often bought as additional family computers, reports the Wall Street Journal.

It’s the first time the chipmaker is using a brand-new production process on a smaller, and therefore cheaper, chip than its previous products. Diamondville, which uses the same design as the much-discussed Silverthorne, will be less than 25 square millimeters—a quarter the size of an older chip made the same way. It will cost less than existing chips and will be introduced in the second quarter. (More Intel stories.)