Intel continues to keep quiet about its upcoming budget Core i3 chip that everyone knows is coming, but that’s okay, because we don’t need an official statement from Santa Clara to tell you more about this part.
The chip is already available for preorder at Canadian retailer A-Power. According to A-Power’s listing, the dual-core Core i3 530 will come clocked at 2.93GHz.. It will also sport 512KB of L2 cache and 4MB of L3 cache, and comes priced at around $150 in U.S. currency.
Intel’s upcoming 32nm Core i3 is part of the chip maker’s Westmere architecture. The company has previously said that Westmere chips should deliver performance and power benefits that trump the company’s current 45nm lineup.
We imagine it won’t be long before Intel officially introduces its 32nm Core i3 lineup.
The economic squeeze that has been choking the tech industry might be loosening its grip. How so? Following news that the GPU market skyrocketed 21 percent in the third quarter with a strong outlook ahead, iSuppli reports global semiconductor revenues are signaling the start of a recovery.
"The seeds of the current recovery were sown in the second quarter," said Dale ford, senior vice president, market intelligence, for iSuppli. "During that period, manufacturers began to report positive book-to-bill ratios, indicating future revenue growth. This was followed by another sequential increase in revenues in the third quarter."
After a 5.8 percent decrease in 2008, the research firm estimates global semiconductor revenues will grow by 16.5 percent in 2009. Part of the reason for this comes from chip suppliers "slashing costs dramatically" to clear out unsold inventory in the third quarter.
iSuppli did warn that the first two quarters of 2010 will see revenues that are slightly down compared to the fourth quarter of 2009, but added that the second half of the year should show a strong 13.8 percent growth rate, finally ending the two-year losing streak.
Image Credit: evergreenengineering.com
