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Intel have been producing Sandy Bridge samples in volume since Q1 2010, and have begun shipping thousands of Sandy Bridge CPU samples to its customers. Sandy Bridge is the "tick" of Intel's "tick-tock" policy, signifying a new architecture on a mature process. Paul Otellini, CEO & President, mentioned that volume production of the currently sampling CPUs will begin as early as late 2010. A wide release has long been scheduled for early Q1 2011.

Interestingly, the first Sandy Bridge CPUs are expected to be mainstream dual-core and quad-core processors with an emphasis on efficiency. Thus, the Core i7 980X is likely to remain the fastest CPU for a long time, with Sandy Bridge six-core / eight-core iterations only releasing after Q2 2010.

As we know, the first Sandy Bridge CPUs are built around LGA 1155, compatible with Intel's next-generation 6 series chipsets. So, upgrading to Sandy Bridge will require the purchase of a new motherboard.

Intel's 32nm process appears to be a resounding success, with Mr. Otellini claiming it is their fastest ramping process ever; with four fabs ramping by early Q4 2010, before schedule.

On the AMD side of things, the true next-generation architecture, Bulldozer, is scheduled for a vague "2011" time frame. Sandy Bridge will definitely come first, but it is unknown as to when AMD's challenger will drop. AMD also have the Llano APU, which should release in Q1 2011. Llano, expected to be branded Fusion, will have a more powerful GPU, though a weaker Phenom II based 32nm CPU compared to Sandy Bridge.

At this moment, Intel seems to be going from strength to strength, with no barriers in sight. 

Reference: Xbitlabs