Intel launches ‘quad-core’ chips

Intel Corp., the world’s largest computer chip maker, on Tuesday launched a family of chips with four computing engines inside a single microprocessor.

The “quad-core” processors, which boast improved performance over models with just one or two processing cores, could help the company win back market share lost to smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc., analysts said. Processors with multiple cores can handle more complex jobs at once.

Intel rolled out four processors for servers under the Xeon 5300 brand, and another processor in the Core 2 Extreme series aimed at hard-core computer gamers, programmers and other people with heavy-duty computing needs.

The Core 2 Extreme chip is as much as 80% faster than previous models, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said.