Intel says new technology will let it get chips to market faster, allowing it to cut prices by as much as 60 per cent.

An Intel spokesman told Reuters: "We have a more aggressive product and manufacturing ramp, so those older Pentium products will move down faster. It's not like we're cutting prices for the sake of cutting prices."

The company will move more quickly to 65nm production of its Core chips than it has done in the past. This means it should have mid-priced chips ready to replace Pentium chips faster than usual when it moves technologies.

The Core chips are due next month, with a laptop version arriving in August.

Sources at Taiwanese board manufacturers told Bloomberg the price cuts will start 23 July.

Despite this, Intel shares fell to a three year low on Nasdaq, losing more than a third of their value in the last year. Shares in rival AMD have almost doubled.