Intel will today introduce faster Pentium and Celeron processors for laptop computers, including the first-ever mobile processor to run at two billion cycles a second.
Intel, the world's largest semiconductor maker, said that the processors are already in the hands of major PC makers, and laptops using them will soon be on the market. Included in the announcement is Intel's Pentium 4 chip for laptop computers running at two gigahertz.
Laptop computers have for the last several years been by far the fastest-growing segment of the PC market, which in the last year and a half has been marked by stagnant sales. Worldwide sales of PCs fell year-on-year in 2001 for only the second time in the industry's 22-year history.
Intel cited forecasts from market research firm Gartner Group that sales of laptops over the next four years will increase at almost twice the rate of the overall PC market.
Intel's rival, Advanced Micro Devices, has also aggressively targeted this market, where profit margins are higher, and it has made strong inroads into the US retail laptop-computer market, analysts have said.
In addition to the two gigahertz Pentium 4 mobile chip, Intel will also announce today a mobile Pentium 4 mobile chip running at 1.90 gigahertz. It will also introduce mobile Celeron chips, designed for lower-priced laptops, running at frequencies of 1.50 gigahertz, 1.40 gigahertz and 1.33 gigahertz.