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Confusion abounds following Intel’s mixed messages with a recent denial of an earlier executive’s claim that the upcoming Ivy Bridge launch has been delayed by over two months.
On the weekend an FT report quoted Intel veep and China boss Sean Maloney as saying that the next-generation chips were delayed up to ten weeks, saying "I think maybe it’s June now."
However Intel spokesman Jon Carvill told CNET that the reports were "inaccurate", by that he must mean that Maloney was inaccurate. "Our schedule has only been impacted by a few weeks," he said.
Likely this amounts to PR spin given than Intel hasn’t actually stated when Ivy Bridge will be launched so they’re entirely free to declare how far the new 22nm processors have slipped by simply fibbing about the intended release date.
Maloney told the FT that the delay was down to Intel’s new industry leading and thoroughly bleeding-edge 22nm production process although industry watcher, the DigiTimes, cited notebook manufacturers as saying that the delay was down to excess inventory of existing Sandy Bridge parts in the channel.
Intel is now playing up the volume of Ivy Bridge to appear in 2012, saying that the chipmaker expected to ship 50 per cent more Ivy Bridge chips compared to the same period of Sandy Bridge in 2011.
CNET quoted an unnamed Intel source as saying that the delay was more down to concerns of supplying enough of the ultra-low-voltage (ULV) parts at launch. The ULV Ivy Bridge chips are a key part in Intel’s next generation of ultrabooks.
For all that, we haven’t heard any better than Maloney’s ‘June’ suggestion of Ivy Bridge availability.
