X-bit labs

Intel’s Sonoma to Achieve 50% Market Share by Late Q2.

Category: Mobile

by Anton Shilov

[ 04/22/2005 | 04:22 PM ]

Despite of the recent issues with availability of Intel Corp.’s  Intel Pentium M processors, Intel Corp. aims to increase the output of the latest processors and chipsets significantly in the coming quarter. The move poses competitive difficulties for minor chip- and chipset- makers, particularly AMD, Transmeta, SiS and VIA Technologies.

“In the second quarter we expect the Sonoma platform to almost double the volume and represent over half of our mobile shipments,” said Paul Otellini President and Chief Operating Officer of Intel Corp. in a recent conference call.

Intel Corp. recently confirmed rumours that the company could not supply enough mobile microprocessors, particularly those intended for the Centrino-branded notebooks and based on 90nm process technology. The firm, however, said it would correct the situation and the vast majority of the demand would be satisfied.

“As reported in our earnings announcement today, unit sales of mobile processors set a record in Q1, and we expect to continue to see strong demand on that front. Because of that strong demand, we are still seeing some tightness in certain mobile processors along with ongoing tightness in chipsets. However, at this point in time, we expect to be able to meet the vast majority of our overall demand within the quarter,” said Barbara Grimes, an Intel’s spokeswoman.

Intel’s latest incarnation of Centrino platform previously code-named Sonoma primarily targets the consumers, while the initial Centrino incarnation addressed the needs of business and enterprise users, who are not much interested in loads of multimedia capabilities, but are more concentrated on battery life and wireless LAN capability, still, Intel incorporated a number of technologies that further reduce power consumption of notebooks, such as Intel Display Power Saving Technology 2 (Intel DPST2), which reduces display backlight power by up to 400mW with minimal visual impact.

Intel’s President and COO Paul Otellini recently said 80 notebook makers planned to adopt the new Centrino flavour at launch and more than 150 would ship products based on the Sonoma by the end of 2005.