After finishing the week on a financial low note, Intel will have a chance to show off its latest technology on Tuesday as its spring developer forum gets under way in San Francisco.

Processors designed with Intel’s new microarchitecture will take center stage. Intel CEO Paul Otellini first announced the technology, a blueprint for designing chips, at last fall’s Intel Developer Forum (IDF).

It aims to keep the best features from two previous designs called NetBurst and Banias. NetBurst gave birth to the first Pentium 4 in 2000 and Banias yielded the first lower-power Pentium M for laptops in 2003.

At the IDF, Intel executives will provide more technical details about the microarchitecture, including its moniker. Instead of a keynote by the chief executive officer, as has been the custom, the first speeches will come from Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager of the digital enterprise group; and Justin Rattner, the chief technology officer.

The microarchitecture is key for Intel to design winning multi-core chips, which can more efficiently divide up computing tasks when a processor with one core.

‘Huge Performance Increases’

“When we go from single core to dual core, and dual to quad core, we get huge performance increases,” said Steve Smith, vice president and director of desktop platform operations. “When you look at the power efficiency and the response of the computing workload, you get the benefit.”

Intel’s customers and investors will be paying special attention to what Mr. Gelsinger and other executives have to say about the company’s products and strategies. The world’s largest chip company, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, hasn’t fared well lately.

Its shares slipped to an 18-month low Friday after it warned that its first-quarter sales would dip about $500 million below its previous forecast (see Intel Sales Outlook Slips).

Meanwhile, Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices is enjoying market share gains and plaudits from financial analysts. AMD’s share of the processor market in the fourth quarter rose 21 percent from the third quarter, reported Mercury Research.

Intel’s stock price has fallen steeply from a 52-week high of $28.84 on July 19; late in Friday’s session, they were trading at $20.32. By comparison, AMD shares have more than doubled since last summer and remain close to their high of $42.42 set on February 2.

AMD in Servers

AMD, based in Sunnyvale, California, saw the largest gains in the server market as its Opteron shipment rose 29 percent during the same period.

AMD’s dual-core processors have received kudos from analysts because they are better designed for the two cores to communicate with each other and with the rest of the system. Intel’s first attempt at dual-core chips amounted to putting two single-core chips together.

“We brought out more efficient platforms,” said Pat Patla, director of AMD’s server and workstation marketing.

Mr. Otellini conceded in recent months that his company’s offerings for the server market were weak in 2005, a year when he took over and made the largest reorganizations of the company since its start in 1968.

Intel will make the IDF a showcase for its new server processors. The first one to debut soon is a dual-core Xeon processor code-named Dempsey, which is based on an older microarchitecture.

After Dempsey, however, Intel will begin trotting out processors built with the new design. In the second half of this year, the chip giant will introduce dual-core Woodcrest for server, Conroe for desktop, and Merom for laptop.

Intel executives also will talk about the development of quad-core processors, which will make their first appearance in the market in early 2007. AMD also plans to introduce its first quad-core chip next year.

Beyond Servers

The IDF will include speakers from Intel’s other divisions. Don MacDonald, head of the digital home group, will talk about the Viiv brand of entertainment PCs. Sean Maloney, head of the mobility group, will outline plans for the laptop and wireless markets.

Intel has been mum about when it plans to start selling products from its digital health division, which was created last year. The company has been active in lobbying for healthcare reforms in Washington, D.C., and carrying out R&D projects on creating portable devices for healthcare providers and patients to better communicate with one another and manage treatment plans.

At the IDF, Paolo Gargini, an Intel fellow, will talk about the company’s view on how technology will improve medical care and prevent mistakes.