Intel has officially launched their long-awaited Ivy Bridge chips, the BBC reports. They will use 3D transistors and 22nm technology, which allows the chip to offer more computational power while using less energy. This release comes in time for a potential new Ivy Bridge Mac lineup.
![Ivy Bridge](http://www.mactrast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Ivy-Bridge.jpg)
The initial release features 13 quad-core processors, with dual core processors suitable for the Macbook Air set to be announced ‘later this spring’.
“The momentum around the system design is pretty astonishing,” Intel’s PC business chief, Kirk Skaugen, who is spearheading the launch, told the BBC. “There are more than 300 mobile products in development and more than 270 different desktops, many of which are all-in-one designs.”
“This is the world’s first 22 nanometre product and we’ll be delivering about 20% more processor performance using 20% less average power.”
It is very likely that new Macs will be coming soon with these new processors, even though they shouldn’t necessarily be expected before the official release of dual core Ivy Bridge lineup.