Intel's Core architecture will be the foundation of all Intel's x86 processors by the beginning of 2008, CEO Paul Otellini said last night at the chip giant's spring financial conference.

Actually, the chart he presented showing the rise of the Core architecture and the decline to zero of "non-Core" processors the company will punch out in 2007 suggested Core will command 100 per cent of the chip giant's "total CPU" output.

What, all of them? Surely Intel can't be eliminating Itanium already? Of course not - we think he means IA-32 processors, even those that can also handle 64-bit addressing.

The numbers Otellini presented include forecast figures for June through December, but interestingly show big dips for non-Core percentages in July-August and December. A signal, we'd say, of major Core-derived chip launches in those timeframes.

Otellini also forecast that the upcoming Centrino revamp, 'Santa Rosa', will form the basis of more than 90 per cent of "performance" laptops come Q1 2008 - a quarter before Intel introduces Santa Rosa's successor, 'Montevina'. Santa Rosa components - processors, chipsets and Wi-Fi modules - are already shipping to notebook vendors, he said.

He also said Intel will begin producing more notebook processors than it does desktop chips at some point in 2009, two years ahead of what market watcher IDC is predicting, though the researcher has overall laptop and desktop shipments in mind rather than one chip maker's production estimates.