The Haswell chip will succeed current Core processors code-named Ivy Bridge, . Intel has said that Haswell will deliver twice the performance of Ivy Bridge, and in some cases will double the battery life of ultrabooks, which are a new category of thin and light laptops with battery life of roughly six to eight hours.

Intel shed some light on Haswell at its Intel Developer Forum trade show in September, saying its power consumption had been cut to the point where the chips could be used in tablets. Haswell chips will draw a minimum of 10 watts of power, while Ivy Bridge's lowest power draw is 17 watts. Intel has splintered future Haswell chips into two families: 10-watt chips for ultrabooks that double as tablets, and 15-watt and 17-watt chips designed for other ultrabooks and laptops.

Haswell will be "qualified for sale" in the first half of 2013, said Stacy Smith, chief financial officer at Intel, during the conference call. Chips go through a qualification process internally and externally, after which Intel can put the chip into production.

The Haswell chip could provide a spark to the ultrabook segment, which has stagnated in a slumping PC market. Worldwide PC shipments dropped between 8 percent and 9 percent during the third quarter, according to research firms IDC and Gartner. They said ultrabook sales were lower than expected due to high prices and soft demand for consumer products.

Many ultrabook models with Ivy Bridge processors are expected to ship in the coming weeks with the launch of Windows 8, which is Microsoft's first touch-centric OS. Otellini said more than 140 Core-based ultrabooks will be in the market, of which 40 will have touch capabilities. A few models -- between five and eight -- will be convertible ultrabooks that can also function as tablets. A majority of the ultrabooks will have prices either at or above US$699, with a few models perhaps priced lower, Otellini said.