Chipmaker Intel has confirmed that it will launch 17 new desktop and mobile processors which are based on its 32-nanometer process technology in the first week of January.

The launch will take place at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The outfit will also release three new chipsets and seven wireless modules on January 7 which means that there will be a total of 27 new products associated with its next-generation 32nm technology, codenamed Westmere.

Intel said that all of those products are in "volume production" and there will not be a long delay from the announcement to system availability. The first Westmere products are based on the Nehalem microarchitecture first introduced with the Core i7 line of desktop processors in late 2008.

Westmere is not only a die shrink, Intel has reduced the number of dies it used in previous Nehalem-generation and Core-generation CPU packages from three to two -- the first being the 32nm processor itself with I/0 and the second featuring a 45nm graphics controller.

We have heard on the rumour mill that Intel is also planning to launch new Atom products at CES but is refusing to provide any details at this point.