Intel: Broadwell To Ship In PCs For Christmas

Intel expects its delayed next-generation “Broadwell” chips to be in PCs in time for the Christmas shopping season, but probably no sooner than that, according to the company’s chief executive Brian Krzanich.

The chip range, which uses a 14-nanometre manufacturing process, is the successor to Intel’s current flagship “Haswell” chips, and is said to offer a performance boost as well as an up to 30 percent improvement in energy efficiency and improved graphics.

Manufacturing problems

The chip was originally expected to ship to manufacturers late last year, and to be in products in the first half of this year, but was delayed due to manufacturing problems, Intel said in October.

In April, at its most recent quarterly conference call with financial analysts, Intel said it expected the chips to be in shops during the second half of this year.

The company now says Broadwell is on track to ship in devices in time for the important Christmas season, but will probably not be on shelves for the back-to-school season, Krzanich told Reuters on Saturday.

PC sales slide

“I can guarantee for holiday, and not at the last second of holiday,” he Krzanich reportedly said. On the other hand, he said the back-to-school shipment window would be “tough”.

Intel is counting on Broadwell to help it improve PC sales, which have declined steadily as consumers have shifted their attention to mobile devices. Intel and AMD said sales stabilised in the first quarter of this year, with Intel saying in April that this was partly to Microsoft’s cut-off of technical support for Windows XP, which spurred hardware sales.

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