There was much speculation which claimed that Intel was working on a dual-core Atom chip for its netbooks. It is known that netbooks are usually taken to possess low processing power.

These speculations have turned into reality. A recent conference call with financial analysts, Intel CEO Paul Otellini affirmed that Intel is slated to create dual-core Atom processors for the netbook segment.

Intel also declared that Atom CPU and chipset proceeds declined by 19% in second quarter of 2010 as compared to the revenue of previous year.

As of now, Intel offers 1.6GHz Atom 330 microprocessors for the netbooks such as Asus Eee PC 1201N. There is anticipation that Intel's new dual-core processors will unite with the Atom 500 series family.

It is reported that these new dual-core Atom processors will possess incorporated memory controllers and graphics.

However, there is no formal affirmation on whether these chips will be manufactured using the new 32nm fabrication process.

At the conference call, Otellini said, "I think there will still be significant growth in the netbook business year-over-year. The next innovation coming out on Atom is dual-core, which comes out in the second quarter, so that it will ramp for the holiday season this year and I think that will be a very attractive product”.