Intel's Otellini banking on Sandy Bridge chips

Computerworld - The head of Intel has some very high expectations for the company's new chip family.

Intel formally unveiled its line of Sandy Bridge chips at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on Wednesday. CEO Paul Otellini said the new family of processors should generate $125 billion in revenue for the entire tech industry.

Otellini also said he expects the Sandy Bridge chips to account for one-third of Intel's corporate revenue this year.

Rob Enderle, an analyst at Enderle Group, said he doesn't think Otellini's predictions are exaggerated.

"The OEMs have taken to it strongly and refreshed lines to adopt it," Enderle said. "It represents one of the biggest performance jumps Intel has ever made."

Enderle also noted that Otellini's statement means that Intel is going to be very aggressive about pushing the Sandy Bridge chips into the market. "I am expecting good growth from this if the economy continues to improve," he said.

Sandy Bridge is the code name for Intel's new family of Core processors that includes dozens of new chips, with more scheduled to be released later this year.

The chips will fit into Intel's line of i3, i5 and i7 processors, with quad-core versions available on Jan. 9. Dual-core chips are slated to follow next month, and six- and eight-core processors are expected to be released later in the year.

While Otellini is putting a lot of stock in the success of the Sandy Bridge chips, some industry analysts are warning that overall worldwide chip sales might be disappointing.

Market research firm iSuppli reported in late October that while chip sales were relatively strong in 2010, they had started to slip in the fourth quarter. The firm noted that a lingering tough economy and tight credit are putting a damper on the semiconductor industry.

Agam Shah, with the IDG News Service, contributed to this story.

Sharon Gaudin covers the Internet and Web 2.0, emerging technologies, and desktop and laptop chips for Computerworld. Follow Sharon on Twitter at @sgaudin or subscribe to Sharon's RSS feed . Her e-mail address is sgaudin@computerworld.com.

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