Intel Corp. this week said that it would discontinue its first processor based on the Nehalem micro-architecture. Intel claims that the demand towards the chip has shifted to other products.

The first processor from the Intel Core i7 family to be discontinued is the model i7-940 that features four cores, operates at 2.93GHz, equipped with 8MB of cache and utilizes 4.80GHz quick path interconnect bus. The chip currently costs only $562 in business quantities.

“Market demand for the Intel Core i7-940 processor has shifted to other Intel processors. The products identified in this notification will be discontinued and unavailable for additional orders after the last product discontinuance order date,” a statement by Intel reads.

It is rather surprising that Intel decided to discontinue the rather high-end chip, but came to a decision to retain the model i7-920, which functions at 2.66GHz and costs $284 in business quantities. Previously Intel would cease pricing and move the model i7-940 into higher volume market segments.

Intel’s customers have to place the final orders for the Core i7 940 central processing units by the 10^th of July, 2009. Intel will ship its last boxed i7-940 on the 4^th of December and the last tray flavours of the chip on the 5^th of November, 2010.

Tags: Intel, Core, Nehalem, Bloomfield, 45nm