Intel revealed few surprises at its Intel Developer
Forum Japan event yesterday, instead choosing to give the Japanese
audience a look at several technologies first disclosed at a US
event in February.
Despite the lack of surprises, the company did announce several
updates on its technology work, mainly in the mobile sector.
In the flash memory sector, an area where Intel is very strong,
the company announced development of an improved memory packaging
technique that allows it to stack as many as five flash memory
chips in a single package 1.2mm thick. Until now the company's most
advanced package could accommodate four memory chips.
Stacking chips one on top of the other in a single package
benefits mobile equipment makers because it allows them to pack
more memory storage into a device and thus keep the size of their
products small.
A more advanced version of the company's Ultra-Thin Stack
Chip-Scale Packaging technology is predicted to reduce the
thickness of a five-chip package to 1mm sometime next year.
Intel also showed a prototype memory package that included eight
chips. The chips are fabricated on a film rather than a rigid die
to make them thinner, so they can all fit in. Intel declined to
specify when such a chip might become a commercial product.
In other future plans, Intel disclosed a few details of an
upcoming XScale processor, which aims to halve the amount of power
consumed in idle mode and current consumed in sleep mode, said
Darin Billerbeck, vice president of Intel's wireless communications
and computing group.
It will also outperform the existing PXA26x processor, but
Billerbeck declined to provide any additional information on when
it would be available.
Intel also provided a slightly more specific target for
delivering technology to enable what it calls "always on" computing
and demonstrated a prototype notebook concept platform based on its
Newport technology.
The Newport PC has a small monochrome secondary LCD which
enables the user to receive instant messages, check e-mail and
perform similar tasks while the main PC is switched off.
The system uses the main processor and operating system and
keeps the machine running in a very low-power mode, said Anand
Chandrasekher, Intel's vice president and co-general manager of the
mobile platforms group.