Acclaimed chip supplier Intel recently announced that its 10-core "Westmere-EX" Xeon processor will be made available before the end of first half of 2011.

The upcoming chip will succeed the current fastest Intel server processor, the Nehalem-EX CPU, which features up to eight cores, and was launched in 2010.

Intel will utilize 32nm processing technology to build the 10-core "Westmere-EX" Xeon processor. It may be noted here that the existing Nehalem-EX chip was built using the 45nm processing technology.

A spokesperson for the manufacturer said that the upcoming chip would target the high-end servers in data centers that maintain large databases plus other applications.

The spokesperson also claimed that Westmere-EX chip’s two-socket systems would support up to 2TB of memory. In addition, the new technology would make it easier for users to upgrade server processors.

Meanwhile, Intel’s main rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is preparing to launch a new Bulldozer architecture-based 16-core Opteron processor (codenamed Interlagos) in the third quarter of this year.