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Unfortunately we were not able to attend Intel's San Francisco briefing in person yesterday, but we were able to "virtually" attend thanks to the teleconference and press materials.

Intel will invest an additional seven billion dollars on top of the  billion it already invested for 32nm manufacturing technology in the US.

The new investment will be used to upgrade Intel fabs:

• Fab 11x in New Mexico
• Fab D1C, D1D and AF) in Oregon
• Fab 22-32 in Arizona

The Tick-Tock Development model was then highlighted, showing how Merom (tock), Penryn (tick) and Nehalem (tock) are now leading to Westmere (tick) to be later followed by Sandy Bridge (tock)

As a result of the R&D investment, Intel was demonstrating the first working 32nm processor for mobile and desktop systems yesterday.

Intel's 32nm technology is their second generation of high-k metal gate transistors, and allows for an approximately 70% smaller die than 45nm.

The 32nm process is actually ahead of schedule, and Intel will accelerate its 32nm product ramp by starting to produce Westmere mobile and desktop processors in the fourth quarter of this year.

Due to its smaller geometry, and more efficient transistors due to lower current leakage, the new Westmere processors will use less power, and offer increased performance. Personally I can't wait to try them, as I consider it likely that they will overclock even better than the current 45nm Nehalem's.