Intel

The market seems to think that the folks at ARM and its licensees (TI, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Marvel, Apple, et. al.) are on the verge of attacking Intel where it is most susceptible – the PC and server space. Indeed, ARM is making inroads with low power designs, and has a virtual monopoly on mobile devices. But the path to PCs and Servers is a very different path than smartphones and tablets. And clearly, Intel doesn’t think it can afford to concede any territory, which is why it is pushing back hard on the mobile heartland of ARM. So let’s step back and see what Intel has going for it vs.

Intel's Larrabee GPU will finally go into commercial production next year, but not as a graphics processor. Instead, the part will make its debut in a 50-core incarnation fabbed on Intel's 22nm and aimed squarely at one of the fastest growing and most important parts of NVIDIA's business: math coprocessors for high-performance computing (HPC).

Intel has effectively sounded the death knell for its Itanium processors by saying that its Xeon chips are moving into the high-availability, mission-critical arena.

Talking to thinq_ at Intel's Day in the Clouds event, Dylan Larson, director of Xeon Platform Marketing at Intel, said that the firm was developing its Xeon processors with a "no compromise attitude". When asked what that meant in real terms, Larson said it was to "position Xeon [processors] for the big back end".

Intel has launched a security-research collaboration with major US universities, saying that all research results will be made public, and all software developed in the program will be open sourced.

Intel has invested $24.5 million in four computing companies, bringing its total capital investments to $10 billion.

The chip maker is pouring money into CrowdStar, iStreamPlanet, Music Mastermind and PerspecSys, four companies which Intel believes are working on technologies that may prove imporrtant in the future.

Intel Corp. on Wednesday introduced a three-dimensional transistor that the company said would also allow chips to operate with less power while maintaining high performance.

Intel said the company is embracing the new chip technology as it shifts to a 22-nanometer manufacturing technology. The new transistor — called Tri-Gate — will be put to use in high-volume manufacturing in a new chip product code-named “Ivy Bridge.”

Intel is looking to build up its executive ranks and is apparently willing to look outside of the chip company's own walls to find some new top brass to compete for the top jobs that president and chief executive officer, Paul Otellini, will vacate in five years or so.