Intel have proudly lifted the curtain on their next-gen "Penryn" family of processors today, these being the first processors to make use of what Intel call "high-k + metal gate transistor technology", allowing them to move to a 45nm manufacturing process without any issues!

For full coverage on Penryn, check out articles at the Dailytech, Hot Hardware, bit-tech, Legit Reviews, PC Perspective, Hardware Zone and TGDaily.

bit-tech:-
The pace at which technology is moving these days can be quite frightening - it was only 13 months ago when Intel released its first processor products using the company's 65 nanometre manufacturing technology. Fast forward to today and Intel has announced that it has made a significant breakthrough in manufacturing technology with the development of high-k, metal gate transistors using its 45 nanometre process node.

Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel Corporation has stated that "the implementation of high-k and metal materials marks the biggest change in transistor technology since the introduction of polysilicon MOS transistors in the late 1960s." You would think that was enough to brag about, but Intel doesn't seem to want to stop there. The company is also bragging about the fact that it has five early-version processors manufactured on the new 45nm process technology up and running in its testing labs.