With the introduction of its next-generation Tegra processor, Tegra 2, for mobile devices, Nvidia has reflected its plans of profiting from the growing tablet PC buzz at the ongoing Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

The Tegra 2, which is a fully HD-capable and power-efficient dual-core Cortex A9 processor, is being largely pitched by Nvidia as a processor for a host of forthcoming mobile devices - thereby indicating that the focus of the new Tegra processor will be 'slate tablets,' instead of clamshell "smartbooks."

Unveiling Tegra 2 and showing off different-sized tablet devices from manufacturers like Asus, MSI, and ICD, Nvidia President and CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said at the company's press conference: "2010 is going to be the beginning of the tablet revolution."

The Cortex A9 processor of Tegra 2, which is part of its eight independent processors including a Geforce GPU, will enable the processor to deliver a ten-fold increase in the performance of a smartphone. The device will operate at barely 500 milliwatts, resulting in an improved battery life as compared to other products based on Qualcomm's Snapdragon or Intel's Atom chips.

As per Mike Rayfield, Nvidia's general manager for mobile products, the main appeal of Tegra is its ability to playback rich video content, in 720p and 1080p, and its use essentially as an entertainment platform, boasting all the battery benefits of a smartphone.