Intel’s next-generation Atom processor, codenamed ‘Pineview’, won’t drop until mid-Q4 according to a roadmap posted on Japanese language PC Watch. The website is traditionally quite reliable, so the mid-year hopes of netbook lovers not quite thrilled with the barely-an-upgrade 1.66 GHz Z280 Atom, seem to be quashed. Rumor has it that Pineview will contain its own memory controller and 200 Mhz GMA950 graphics core, rather than the separate chipset and 133 MHz GMA950 graphics core found in current Atom-based netbooks. This will allow for smaller yet more powerful devices that don’t increase power consumption, ultimately saving battery life.
The delay shouldn’t be entirely surprising to you if you’ve been keeping on eye on the semiconductor industry. With global economic fear keeping everyone indoors and away from electronics store, Intel and other chipmakers have suffered massive inventory bloat and lowered earnings in the last quarter. Until Intel can sell off its excess inventory, releasing Pineview would be a zero-dollar business for the company.
That said, Digitimes is reporting that Intel won’t be reducing prices for its mobile processors and chipsets likely until June at the earliest, with reductions of 13 to 40 percent. 
On a more upbeat side, Intel’s president and chief executive officer Paul Otellini announced this morning that the company would be pumping $7 billion into the United States economy. The money will be spent over the next two years at 32nm factories in Oregon, Arizona, and New Mexico, which combined employ 7, 000 workers. While this likely won’t make the 5, 000 to 6, 000 employee recently laid off from Intel happy, the company’s Westmere production on Nehalem desktop and laptop chips is ahead of schedule.
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