It’s no secret that China has come a long way in a short time — from being a country known for manufacturing cheap products for export to being, potentially, the next great IT superpower. National Science Board figures show that in 1994 there were only seven U.S. companies doing research in China. Ten years later, that number had risen to more than 500. Gartner analysts James Popkin and Partha Iyengar wrote, in their 2007 book I.T. and the East, that the world “will witness the birth of a real IT superpower if government restrictions are loosened and the Chinese instinctive talent for entrepreneurialism continues to be encouraged.”

It’s against this backdrop that the Intel Developer Forum in Shanghai, April 2 and 3, 2008, takes on extra significance. China now supplies the talent, within the country, to conduct advanced research in chip design. At this year’s IDF in Shanghai, Intel will provide an update on new technologies and features that enable devices with better performance, less power, more mobility, and lower cost.

If you’re not attending the event in person, be sure to follow online at Intel’s IDF pages and check in here for more video podcast coverage.

Tags: new processor, ultra-mobile, Intel, mobility computing, UMPC, mobile Internet devices, notebooks, desktops, netbooks, net-tops, Atom, 45nm technology, Penryn, Core 2 Duo, IDF, National Science Board, James Popkin, Partha Iyengar, I.T. and the East, Intel Developer Forum

In other news, Intel will launch Santa Rosa Refresh in January 2008. It’s an update to Intel Centrino processor technology that includes the next-gen 45nm high-k mobile processor (codenamed Penryn).

Perlmutter also showed the next generation Montevina processor technology that is set to roll out in mid-2008, which includes the Penryn mobile processor and the next-generation chipset with DDR3 memory support. This is notable for being Intel’s first Centrino processor for notebooks to offer the option of integrated Wi-Fi, WiMAX wireless technologies for greater wireless broadband access.

Anand Chandrasekher, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the Ultra Mobility Group, discussed the personal mobile Internet, and Intel’s “silicon roadmap” that will deliver radical reductions in power requirements and package sizes. He also announced a range of leading industry players working with Intel to establish the MID and ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) categories. In a talk entitled, “Unleashing the Internet Experience,” he also covered the upcoming Intel Menlow platform (including a new processor, codenamed Silverthorne - lots of detail can be found on John Spooner’s blog), and the Intel “Moorestown” platform — System on Chip plus a Communications Hub.

The talk also amounted to a check-in after last April’s announcement at IDF Beijing of the MID Innovation alliance with Asus, BenQ, Compal, Elektrobit, HTC, Inventec and Quanta. Chandrasekher was able to show working prototypes from many of the partner companies, emphasizing the significant progress that’s been made over the past six months.

Also announced were strategic collaborations for MID and UMPC efforts — a step forward for Intel’s “Full Internet in Your Pocket” vision.

And the keynote included what Intel billed as the “world’s first demonstration of Adobe AIR Application on Intel Menlow-based platform” — designed to extend the reach of rich Internet applications.

Go Mobile - Click Here for MIDs and UMPCs

Tags: David (Dadi) Perlmutter, Anand Chandrasekher, Fall IDF, Dadi, mobile computing, WiMAX, networking connectivity, Santa Rosa Refresh, 45nm, mobile processor, Penryn, Montevina processor, Anand Chandrasekher, Ultra Mobility, ultra-mobile PC, UMPC, Intel Menlow, Silverthorne, Moorestown, System on Chip, MID Innovation, Full Internet in Your Pocket

Intel has brought out new technology every two years for the last 14 years, putting Intel co-founder Gordon Moore’s “Moore’s Law” into practice. From 45 nanometer technology, Intel has its sights set on 32 nanometer microprocessors for 2009.

Otellini also talked about platforms — the unique combination of microprocessors and chipsets, “tailored for the task at hand.” In the immediate future is Penryn, 45 nanometer dual-core products, the first of which are launching on November 12. Next year, Intel plans to launch Nehalem, a scaleable, multi-core system — 8 cores, each with 2 threads. (Specifics on the launch aren’t available yet — Dean Takahashi reports from IDF that it’ll be released “as soon as it’s ready.”

While discussing the multi-core Larrabee effort, Otellini may have revealed a little more than he intended by indicating it amounted to a move into discrete graphics (he later clarified, according to The Register’s Ashlee Vance: “I said that among the applications for Larrabee one of them is high-end graphics.” Other sources provide a play-by-play of the proceedings.

In addition to adding more cores, Intel is also improving the performance of individual cores, and of power efficiency.

What does the future hold for Intel? The long list of efforts includes pushes in extreme mobility, including ultra-mobile devices with integrated WiMax/Wifi; entertainment — with talk about extreme performance, graphics capability energy efficiency for extreme gaming; problem-solving geared for Enterprise innovations; performance and energy efficiency initiatives including the Climate Savers Initiative & compliance with EPA Energy Star rating program; and creating and reaching new markets, with initiatives to get the 3rd million people connected, through programs like “Intel Teach.”

Tags: Paul Otellini, Intel, silicon technology, Intel architecture, Gordon Moore, Moore’s Law, 45 nanometer, 32 nanometer microprocessors, microprocessors, chipsets, Penryn, Nehalem, IDF, Larrabee, discrete graphics, ultra-mobile devices, WiMax, Wifi, extreme performance, extreme gaming, Climate Savers Initiative, Energy Star rating, Intel Teach

Tags: Intel Developer Forum, Beijing, Perlmutter and [tag]Anand Chandrasekher, Ultra Mobility Group, Intel, Mobile Internet Devices, MID, Ultra-Mobile PC, UMPC, Linux