Intel Corporation today reported second-quarter revenue of $13.8 billion, operating income of $3.8 billion, net income of $2.8 billion and EPS of $0.55. The company generated approximately $5.5 billion in cash from operations, paid dividends of $1.1 billion, and used $2.1 billion to repurchase 74 million shares of stock.

"Our second-quarter results showed the strength of our strategy to extend the reach of Intel technology from the data center to PCs to the Internet of Things," said Intel CEO Brian Krzanich. "With the ramp of our Baytrail SoC family, we have expanded into new segments such as Chrome-based systems, and we are on track to meet our 40 million unit tablet goal. In addition, we hit an important qualification milestone for our upcoming 14 nm Broadwell product, and expect the first systems to be on shelves during the holidays."

Having already planned the discontinuance of a heap of Ivy Bridge processors, Intel has this week confirmed that several supporting chipsets - the Z77, H77, Z75 and Q75, will also be 'going away' in 2015. According to Intel's product change notification the four LGA1155 desktop chipsets will be available for ordering until January 23rd, 2015 and will continue shipping until July 10th.

An identical schedule was also announced for seven Ivy Bridge-based mobile processors, the Celeron 1020M, 1005M, 1000M, 1037U, 1017U, 1007U and 1019Y.

Technology industry leaders Atmel Corporation, Broadcom Corporation, Dell, Intel Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., and Wind River, are joining forces to establish a new industry consortium focused on improving interoperability and defining the connectivity requirements for the billions of devices that will make up the Internet of Things (IoT).

The Open Interconnect Consortium (OIC) is focused on defining a common communications framework based on industry standard technologies to wirelessly connect and intelligently manage the flow of information among personal computing and emerging IoT devices, regardless of form factor, operating system or service provider.

Intel Corporation today announced that it has entered into a manufacturing agreement with Panasonic Corporation's System LSI Business Division. Intel's custom foundry business will manufacture future Panasonic system-on-chips (SoCs) using Intel's 14 nm low-power manufacturing process.

Panasonic's next-generation SoCs will target audio visual-based equipment markets, and will enable higher levels of performance, power and viewing experience for consumers.

Only the third active licencee of Intel's x86 machine architecture, VIA Technology, is readying its first x86 processor in years, codenamed Isaiah II. This chip is based on a brand new 64-bit x86 core design by VIA and the engineering team it acquired from Centaur Technology, another erstwhile x86 licencee, and features modern instruction sets such as AVX 2.0. VIA began sampling a quad-core processor based on Isaiah II, which was put to live test by the company, at its InfoComm 2014 booth. It was compared to Intel's "Bay Trail" Atom and AMD's "Kabini" Athlon chips. It turns out that the Isaiah II is pretty good, if it comes out soon enough.

The Isaiah II based quad-core chip, featuring 2.00 GHz clock speeds, and 2 MB of L2 cache, was put through SANDRA. The BGA chip was running on a VIA-made motherboard, with its own VIA VX11H chipset. It was compared to AMD Athlon 5350 (quad-core "Jaguar" with 2.05 GHz clocks), and Intel Atom Z3770 (quad-core "Silvermont" with 2.40 GHz clocks). The results are tabulated below. At 2.00 GHz, armed with the latest multimedia and cryptography instruction-sets, VIA's chip is faster than Intel's in most tests, despite lower clocks. It trades blows - and wins - against AMD's chip, in most tests. VIA is expected to launch the first chips based on Isaiah II in late-August, 2014. VIA is hedging its bets with efficient compact PCs, kiosks, and digital signage, with its new chip.

Intel Corporation announced that three customers launched products based on its new education-specific product reference designs this week at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) 2014 Conference in Atlanta. Created by Intel Education, these reference designs draw on more than a decade of experience in student learning, providing customers with shorter development time, customization capabilities and the latest technologies, features and software. The three products are the Panasonic 3E*, the CTL Education Chromebook* and the M&A Education Chromebook*.

Designed for active learning and active students, the Panasonic 3E is a tablet that comes with a detachable keyboard to deliver laptop capabilities. Panasonic is the first company to offer Intel's purpose-built 2 in 1 reference design as a device for K-12 students. The Panasonic 3E ships with a comprehensive software bundle of essential K-12 applications that makes learning more active and teachers' lives easier. It also features a thermometer probe, on-board cameras and an add-on lens that turn science and mathematics into hands-on, highly engaging, STEM-centered learning.

Launched for pre-order on the side-lines of Computex 2014, Intel's flagship quad-core processors for the LGA1150 platform, codenamed "Devil's Canyon," are now shipping from retailers, and can be bought off the shelf on ground stores. Based on the 22 nm "Haswell Refresh" silicon, these chips are designed for overclocking, featuring higher voltage limits, packages designed to tolerate higher voltage, stronger electricals, and an improved thermal interface material between the die and IHS.

The series includes the Core i5-4690K, and the Core i7-4790K. The i5-4690K is clocked at 3.50 GHz, with Turbo Boost frequencies of 3.90 GHz, and features 6 MB of L3 cache. The i7-4790K, on the other hand, is the first Intel Core processor to ship with out of the box clock speed of 4.00 GHz, and Turbo Boost speeds of 4.40 GHz. It features 8 MB of L3 cache, and HyperThreading, which enables eight logical CPUs for the OS to deal with. The i5-4690K is priced at US $250, and the i7-4790K at $350.

Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq:MU), one of the world's leading providers of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced an ongoing collaboration with Intel to deliver an on-package memory solution for Intel's next-generation Xeon Phi processor, codenamed Knights Landing. The memory solution is the result of a long-term effort between the two companies to break down the memory wall, leveraging the fundamental DRAM and stacking technologies also found in Micron's Hybrid Memory Cube products.

"The ecosystem is changing and the importance of scalable on-package memory and memory bandwidth is now coming to light," said Chirag Dekate, Research Manager at IDC. "Memory is at the heart of the solution space which will benefit both big compute and big data. This announcement is a clear validation of how Micron is advancing the role and impact of memory on systems and the value that 3D memory can deliver."

Intel Corporation today announced new details for its next-generation Intel Xeon Phi processors, code-named Knights Landing, which promise to extend the benefits of code modernization investments being made for current generation products. These include a new high-speed fabric that will be integrated on-package and high-bandwidth, on-package memory that combined, promise to accelerate the rate of scientific discovery. Currently memory and fabrics are available as discrete components in servers limiting the performance and density of supercomputers.

The new interconnect technology, called Intel Omni Scale Fabric, is designed to address the requirements of the next generations of high-performance computing (HPC). Intel Omni Scale Fabric will be integrated in the next generation of Intel Xeon Phi processors as well as future general-purpose Intel Xeon processors. This integration along with the fabric's HPC-optimized architecture is designed to address the performance, scalability, reliability, power and density requirements of future HPC deployments. It is designed to balance price and performance for entry-level through extreme-scale deployments.

QNAP Systems, Inc. today officially launched four new business-class Turbo NAS models: TS-EC880U-RP, TS-EC1280U-RP, TS-EC1680U-RP, and TS-EC2480U-RP. Delivering high-performance, extreme scalability options and a wide array of applications to drive businesses, these models easily fulfill mission-critical storage needs of businesses, with persistent throughput to balance resource-demanding applications.

Equipped with a Quad-Core Intel Xeon 3.4GHz processor, 4GB DDR3 ECC RAM and with 10GbE-readiness and SSD caching options (including up to two internal mSATA slots), these models are capable of providing up to 3,700 MB/s throughput and 410,000 IOPS to boost the workflow of IOPS-demanding applications such as virtualization and data center deployment. With a scalable design, administrators can gradually expand their total storage to over 680TB raw capacity (depends on models) on demand by connecting multiple QNAP RAID expansion enclosures (REXP-1600U-RP and REXP-1200U-RP). With this flexibility, businesses can be confident that these models will suit their storage requirements both now and in the future.

Intel Core i7 "Haswell-E" HEDT (high-end desktop) processors, along with compatible motherboards based on the Intel X99 Express chipset, are expected to launch on September 14, 2014, according to a leaked Intel supply chain document scored by VR-Zone. The Core i7 "Haswell-E" series succeeds current Core i7 "Ivy Bridge-E," and its compatible X79 Express chipset. The new chips will be built in the new LGA2011-3 package (incompatible with current LGA2011), and will be the first client desktop platform to support the new DDR4 system memory standard. The series will include three parts, the six-core Core i7-5820K and i7-4930K; and the eight-core i7-5960X. The three are detailed in our older article, here.

The consumer SSD market could witness a price-war, with leading manufacturers spooling up production, according to industry sources. NAND flash chip supplier Micron Technology reportedly reduced supplies of its chips to other manufacturers, in a possible bid to increase production of consumer SSDs bearing its own channel brand, Crucial Memory. The company plans to double shipments of Crucial-branded SSDs quarter-over-quarter. Elsewhere, Kingston Digital ramped up SSD shipments to 600,000 units a month, to step up competition against SanDisk and Samsung.

SSD makers are likely to take advantage of the entry of M.2 standard in the consumer space, with the introduction of Intel's 9-series chipset. M.2 offers 10 Gb/s of interface bandwidth (physical layer PCI-Express 2.0 x2), and some non-standard implementations are wired to offer even 20 Gb/s (physical layer PCI-Express 2.0 x4). M.2 slots feature SATA 6 Gb/s wiring in some onboard implementations, which could pave the way for M.2 replacing 2.5-inch SATA as the highest selling SSD form-factor, in the near future.

As a result of stronger than expected demand for business PCs, Intel Corporation now expects second-quarter revenue to be $13.7 billion, plus or minus $300 million, as compared to the previous range of $13.0 billion, plus or minus $500 million. The company is forecasting the mid-point of the gross margin range to increase by 1 point to 64 percent, plus or minus a couple of percentage points, driven mostly by higher PC unit volume. R&D plus MG&A spending is expected to be approximately $4.9 billion, $100 million higher than the prior expectation of approximately $4.8 billion, driven largely by revenue- and profit-dependent items.

The tax rate for the second quarter is expected to be 28 percent as compared to the prior expectation of 27 percent due to higher profits in higher tax jurisdictions. The expectation for second-quarter depreciation remains unchanged.

WiTricity, an industry pioneer in wireless power transfer over distance, today announced a technology licensing agreement with Intel Corporation. As part of this licensing agreement, WiTricity will work with Intel to integrate WiTricity's patented technology to enable efficient, high performance wireless charging solutions for computing devices powered by Intel, enabling more freedom and a seamless wireless charging experience for users.

The agreement is centered on the Rezence specification, which was developed by the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP), and has been adopted by the world's leading mobile chipmakers, mobile phone manufacturers, and other key industry players. Both Intel and WiTricity are board members of the A4WP, helping to drive the technical direction and adoption of the Rezence specification. Rezence will enable wireless charging solutions that can interoperate with other Rezence-enabled devices.

Alongside an updated desktop CPU roadmap, Intel posted an updated consumer SSD roadmap at its 3D Revolution 2014 presentation in Rome. It reveals the company's next-generation consumer SSD series, codenamed "August Ridge," and branded SSD 750 series. Targeting both the "consumer" and "professional" (≠ enterprise) market segments, the SSD 750 series comes in three form-factors, 2.5-inch SATA 6 Gb/s, mSATA 6 Gb/s, and M.2 (likely PCIe 2.0 x2 link layer). The series will sell in most popular sub-terabyte capacities, and will be based on the company's 20 nm MLC NAND flash. We have no reason to believe Intel will discontinue using SandForce-made processors in its consumer SSDs. Intel's SSD 750 series "August Ridge" is slated for Q4-2014.

Intel's presentation for Italian technology conference 3D Revolution 2014 was leaked to the web, revealing the company's most up-to-date desktop CPU roadmap, which looks deep into 2015. It reveals a wealth of new information. To begin with the HEDT (high-end desktop) segment, Intel plans to drag Core i7 "Ivy Bridge-E" through Q3-2014, and launch its succeeding Core i7 "Haswell-E" processor close to Q4-2014, or late into Q3, which would pin its launch some time in September 2014. "Haswell-E" is built in the new socket LGA2011-3 package, and is supported exclusively by Intel X99 Express chipset. It also heralds DDR4 memory to the consumer space. "Haswell-E" will have its reign till late-Q3 2015, when Intel plans to launch Core i7 "Broadwell-E," which is built in the same package, and supported by the same X99 platform, but based on a swanky new 14 nm silicon.

Things get interesting with the company's mainline desktop processors. Intel recently launched its "Haswell" Refresh silicon, and is bound to launch their unlocked variants, codenamed "Devil's Canyon," on the 25th of June. Built in the LGA1150 package, "Haswell" Refresh runs on both 8-series and 9-series chipset. Intel's 9-series chipset was originally designed to launch alongside the company's first processors built on the 14 nm silicon fab process, codenamed "Broadwell," which is an optical shrink of "Haswell," with a few minor tweaks and speed bumps, just as "Ivy Bridge" was to "Sandy Bridge." Intel's "Broadwell" chips are now expected to debut in Q1-2015, probably along the sidelines of the 2015 International CES. These chips will be supported by existing LGA1150 motherboards, some with BIOS updates.

Xi3 Corporation today announced it has entered into a multi-phase agreement with Intel Corporation to develop, manufacture and sell next-generation Micro-Mini PCs, including Intel's successful Intel NUC (Next Unit of Computing) computers.

Micro-Mini PCs represent one of the only growing sectors of the general PC market, as enterprises seek the increased performance, greater power efficiency and modularity of ultra-small form factor computers.

Originally launched as an exclusive for Intel 9-series chipset motherboards, Intel's unlocked Core i5 and Core i7 "Devil's Canyon" quad-core processors, are now supported on a large number of motherboards based on older 8-series chipsets (H81, B85, H87, and Z87), with a BIOS update from the board manufacturer. Intel posted a list of motherboards with "Devil's Canyon" chips, on its website. Most popular Z87-based motherboards are on this list, much to the relief of enthusiasts who spent a small fortune (read: over $300) on high-end Z87-based motherboards, a little over a year ago. "Devil's Canyon" combines specially binned "Haswell" Refresh silicon, with high-tolerance on-package electricals, LGA contact points, and a more efficient thermal interface material between the die and the integrated heatspreader (IHS). The lineup currently includes Core i5-4690K (3.50 GHz, 3.90 GHz Turbo Boost, 4 cores, 4 threads, 6 MB L3 cache, $250), and Core i7-4790K (4.00 GHz, 4.40 GHz Turbo Boost, 4 cores, 8 threads, 8 MB L3 cache, $350).Find the list of motherboards for Core i7-4790K here, and for Core i5-4690K here.

Galaxy unveiled its Captain line of mSATA and M.2 SSDs. Both the Captain-mSATA and the Captain-MAC (M.2) are based on a JMicron-made controller, with Intel-made MLC NAND flash. Both the Captain-mSATA and Captain-MAC come in capacities of up to 256 GB, offering sequential speeds of up to 520 MB/s reads, with up to 275 MB/s writes. Their 4K random read performance is rated at 72,000 IOPS, and 4K random writes at 70,000 IOPS. It's important to note here, that the Captain-MAC may feature an NGFF interface, but runs on a SATA 6 Gb/s link layer. It's one of the many examples of M.2 SSDs that have crept into the industry, with such an interface.

The moment AVADirect began to walk down the road of partnership with Intel, they immediately recognized how special said path would be. As unique as it was (and still is) AVADirect felt it a necessary step in the right, collaborative direction. As Intel is creating an enthusiast following through ground-breaking processor technology, and AVADirect following suit with their one-of-a-kind custom configurations, enthusiasts begin to see a wonderment of high-end solutions unfold. That being said, the reveal of Intel's new, refreshed, unlocked 4th Generation Intel desktop processors makes the perfect addition to AVADirect' armament of Gaming, Performance, and mini-Desktop configurations.

These new Unlocked Intel processors means unlimited potential, and decreased limitations toward advantageous performance that, what was once industry standard, will burn a hole in your competition through smooth-playing gunfire, rather than your system's thermals. The (code-named "Devil's Canyon") 4th Generation CPU's have gained positive press based on reduced thermal operation while under extreme overclocking modifications. What this means, exactly, is end-users/enthusiasts may no longer need to seek high-end cooling solutions (closed-loop/custom liquid cooling) to acquire desirable temperatures while under full load, overclocked, and pushed to the max. This could very well be a new industry standard, coming of age, and (once again) with Intel's leading products for those who wish to utilize the latest processor technologies to their greatest benefit.

Cadence Design Systems, Inc., a leader in global electronic design automation, and Intel Corporation, a world leader in computing innovation, today announced that the companies are collaborating to support Intel's 14 nm Tri-Gate process technology to enable customers of Intel Custom Foundry.

Cadence and Intel have together enabled the custom/analog flow, including Spectre APS, Virtuoso Schematic Editor, Virtuoso Layout Suite and Virtuoso Analog Design Environment for the 14nm Tri-Gate process. The companies are also collaborating on the development of the Cadence digital flow featuring Encounter Digital Implementation System, QRC Extraction Solution, and Tempus Timing Signoff Solution. Using these design flows, customers can leverage the power, performance and area benefits of Intel's 14 nm process technology.

Since Haswell is already doing an encore and Broadwell is looking good coming up, Intel has decided to do a little cleaning and discontinue some of its older processors. No less than 17 processors are set to get the axe and they are the Ivy Bridge-based Core i5-3330, i5-3330S, i5-3340, i5-3340S, i5-3470, i5-3475S, i5-3470S, i5-3470T, i5-3550, i5-3570, i5-3570S, i5-3570T, i5-3570K, i7-3770, i7-3770K, i7-3770S and i7-3770T.

The CPUs listed will continue to be available for ordering until December 24th while shipments will happen until June 5th, 2015.

In addition to the Atomic 990FX, which features a full-coverage water block, Sapphire also showed off its cousin from the Intel platform, the Atomic Z97 (SIZ97). The motherboard in the picture below may look barren without its heatsinks, but that's because it has none, its water-block is standing right next to it, and needs to be installed after you drop in a CPU. Among its features are a 6-phase high-current CPU VRM, two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots, five SATA 6 Gb/s, one mSATA 6 Gb/s, and mainstream connectivity.

ORIGIN PC announced today the availability of the new Intel Core 4th generation "Devil's Canyon" processors on their line of award-winning GENESIS, MILLENNIUM and CHRONOS desktops. Dominate the competition with an unlocked, unleashed, and uncompromised processor featuring Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0, Intel Hyper-Threading Technology, and ORIGIN PC's CPU overclocking to maximize your gaming experience, optimize your workflow, and increase productivity like never before. Gamers, professionals, and enthusiasts can now experience premium performance, vibrant visuals, and built-in security features with the power to play, create, entertain, and inspire on any ORIGIN PC desktop. Unleash the beast within your new ORIGIN PC GENESIS, MILLENNIUM, or CHRONOS desktops using the power and performance of Intel's 4th generation "Devil's Canyon" processors today!

Intel announced its much awaited Core i7 and Core i5 "Devil's Canyon" unlocked quad-core processors. Based on an enhanced "Haswell-DT" Refresh silicon, the chips feature binned dies, enhanced thermal interface material between the die and the integrated heatspreader, enhanced on-package electricals, and high voltage limits. Among the models launched today, are the Core i7-4790K, and the Core i7-4690K. The i7-4790K features four cores, with HyperThreading enabling eight logical CPUs, 8 MB L3 cache, Intel HD 4600 graphics, and an integrated dual-channel DDR3 IMC. It comes with clock speeds of 4.00 GHz, with 4.40 GHz Turbo Boost. Apart from unlocked multipliers, it features higher voltage limits than the current i7-4770K. The Core i5-4690K, on the other hand, is a quad-core chip that lacks HyperThreading. It offers clock speeds of 3.50 GHz, and Turbo Boost speeds of 3.90 GHz. The i7-4790K is priced at US $350, and the i5-4690K at $250. Both chips should be available by 25th June, 2014. For now, you can pre-order them on Newegg.