Intel to slash power consumption on Ivy Bridge chip

Intel is on a mission to cut the power consumption of its chips. But that's not only future silicon. The current Ivy Bridge chip will get throttled down too.

Intel will cut power consumption "significantly" for future versions of the chip, an industry source familiar with the chipmaker's plans told CNET.

Intel's most power efficient Ivy Bridge chips today -- used widely in Windows ultrabooks and Apple's MacBook Air -- are rated at 17 watts. A future version of Ivy Bridge would be rated well below this, the source said. That means that PC makers could theoretically use the chip in tablets. In fact, Microsoft is already slated to use an Ivy Bridge Core i5 chip in its Surface Pro tablet.