Intel CEO announces 14-nanometer processors, predicts sub-$100 tablets
Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich showed off a laptop running on a 14-nanometer Intel system-on-a-chip processor today. During his keynote at the Intel Developer Forum, Krzanich also predicted that there will be tablets …
Context & Ripple Effects
Brian Krzanich used his Intel Developer Forum keynote to turn July's teaser into a working machine: a laptop running on a 14-nanometer Intel system-on-a-chip, shown live on stage. That builds on the momentum of Haswell, whose fanless-tablet variant was teased just weeks earlier and whose fourth-generation Core i3 parts are already drawing as little as 4.5 watts.
The sub-$100 tablet prediction is the more aggressive half of the announcement — a direct shot at the price tiers where Intel has historically had no presence. It extends an arc that began with the CEO's predecessor pitching chips Apple 'can't ignore' for iPad and iPhone in May 2012, and it landed widely: The Verge, Engadget, AllThingsD, GigaOM and LAPTOP Magazine all carried the keynote within hours.
First-order effects
- Windows tablet makers get a credible power budget for the first time — 4.5-watt Haswell silicon plus a 14-nanometer SoC roadmap lets them build thin, quiet devices without the thermal compromises that hurt earlier designs.
- Krzanich's sub-$100 call puts Intel's own OEM partners on notice to design bill-of-materials around Intel silicon at price points previously ceded entirely to ARM-based vendors.
Second-order effects
- ARM licensees in tablets face a two-front squeeze: Intel attacking on process node while simultaneously undercutting on price, forcing faster refresh cycles across the low-end tablet supply chain.
- The 2011-era reference smartphone and tablet designs were showpieces; a shipping 14-nanometer SoC makes x86 a realistic line item in device makers' 2014 roadmaps, changing sourcing conversations at every major OEM.
Third-order effects
- If Intel sustains this cadence, the structural question shifts from whether x86 belongs in mobile to whether process-node leadership can outweigh ARM's ecosystem advantage — the same contest the 2012 Apple courtship was meant to settle.
- A sub-$100 Intel-powered tablet tier would compress margins across the whole tablet market, pushing differentiation further up into displays, services, and software rather than silicon.
The trend: Intel is spending its manufacturing lead to push x86 downmarket into the battery-powered, low-cost device tiers where ARM architecture has been unchallenged.