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Official information about general availability of Intel’s 45 nm processor remain scarce. As of now, Intel says that the 45 nm “Penryn” family, which will bring a new generation of desktop and mobile Core 2 Duo and Xeon processors, is slated for a late 2007 introduction.

However, industry sources recently told TG Daily that a whole bunch of non disclosure agreements (NDAs) for the pre-release and distribution of 45 nm processors are already in place and carry a July 15 expiration date. “Pre-release”, of course, does not mean that Intel will launch the processor at this time; however, we received confirmation from our sources that initial sample shipments of Penryn are scheduled to begin late in Q2 and early Q3. We also expect the NDAs also to apply to the press, which means that first real-world Penryn benchmarks are likely to be published on July 15.