Intel Develops 22 nm Atom Silvermont CPU

Intel was not kidding and is apparently already working on a 22 nm Atom CPU that will be taking advantage of the company's recently detailed Trigate transistor technology.

Cnet was able to get a first tiny scoop, which included the name of the CPU - Silvermont. It will be designed as a SoC and is targeted for a 2013 release. The chip will be two generations out from today's Oak Trail and are likely to aim for ultra-mobile markets such as tablets and smartphones. Cnet reports that Intel is accelerating the Atom roadmap beyond Moore's Law, which is an unheard of event for Intel all by itself.

There are no new details available, but given Intel's 3D transistor announcement, we would expect exceptional battery life and performance when compared to Oak Trail. The time frame for the actual introduction will be interesting: To make some noise in the Smartphone space, Intel will have to provide processor samples to phone manufacturers very early, and not miss a 2012 target in order to be able be in phones in 2013.

As far as we can see today, smartphones will still be the much more interesting market than tablets in the foreseeable time.