ARM has announced it has developed dual-core Cortex A9 processors capable of delivering clock speeds in excess of 2GHz.

The new processors will be manufactured using TSMC's 40nm production process, allowing them to attain such high clocks with relatively low power consumption. The new parts should deliver 4,000 DMIPS while consuming less than 250mW per CPU. ARM also tuned the design by replacing physical IP with logic cells and memory that can drop consumption even further.

ARM has already started licensing the architecture and expects the first products to be available in Q4. It's still not clear what the target market for the new CPU will be. You should probably expect them in smartbooks and MIDs, although we wouldn't be surprised if some vendors manage to squeeze them in to high-end smartphones later on.