Intel Corp. have announced that they intend to release the new Pentium 4 chip on Monday and will aggressively aim to have the Pentium 4 chip into desktops by late 2001.

Their own internal goal is to ensure that Pentium 4 shipments will not exheed Pentium III until early 2002. They will not be releasing pricing and performance data onto Monday's launch.

The Pentium 4 is intended to start life at the very high end of the desktop market, but Intel aim to broaden their market as quickly as possible and ensure that there will be a smooth transition towards the production of this chip at their own production plants.