“Apple Inc. will form a closer bond with once-rival Intel Corp. early next year when it begins building a new breed of ultra-mobile processors from the chipmaker into a fresh generation of handheld devices,” Kasper Jade reports for AppleInsider.

“People familiar with the matter tell AppleInsider that Apple will soon emerge as one of the largest supporters of Intel’s “Menlow” Mobile Internet Device (MID) platform,” Jade reports.

“More specifically, those same people say, Apple has taken a liking to the upcoming 45-nanometer (nm) “Silverthorne” chip, agreeing to use it in not one but multiple products currently situated on its 2008 calendar year product roadmap,” Jade reports.

“Silverthorne is aimed specifically at cell phones, ultra-mobile PCs and other MIDs. The chip is expected to be as fast as the second-generation of Pentium M processors, but use only between half a watt and 2 watts of electrical power — about one tenth as much as a typical notebook chip,” Jade reports.

“Two seemingly apparent contenders appear to be the second-generation 3G iPhone and the much rumored Newton successor / ultra-portable slate computer,” Jade reports.

Much more in the full article here.