Intel has offered a bullish forecast for its new Atom processor for low-end “netbooks” and other mobile computing devices, although executives conceded that the product could eat into sales of more profitable notebook chips.

The comments came on Tuesday as the US chipmaker also confirmed plans to roll out microprocessors based on its new “Nehalem” architecture, which analysts said would allow Intel to emulate a hardware architecture already used by AMD and cement its lead over its smaller rival. The aggressive plans for both Atom and the Nehalem chip came at the Intel developer forum in San Francisco, the company’s main event for announcing its detailed product plans.