• Tweet
• Email

Intel announced two bits of news  its Atom line of low power, low cost processors this week.

First, the company has entered an agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to help produce some of Intel’s Atom chips. This is the first time Intel has outsourced production of a CPU core. The deal will help Intel meet the high demand for low cost Atom chips at a time when consumers aren’t really clamoring for computers bigger, faster, and better processors.

Second, Intel has officially announced the launch of its Z5xx line of processors. We’ve already seen a few devices like the Dell Inspiron Mini 12 and Sony Vaio P as well as some upcoming netbooks from MSI and Asus that make use of the Intel Atom Z520 and Z530 processors. Those chips run at speeds between 1.3GHz and 1.6GHz, have 512KB of L2 Cache, and 533MHz FSB speeds. But Intel has also unveiled a lower power Intel Atom Z510 chip that will run at 1.1GHz with a 400MHz FSB speed and 512KB of L2 cache.

It’s possible that the Z510 chip could show up in netbooks, UMPCs, or even cellphones and other mobile devices in the not too distant future.