International Business Machines, or IBM, has recently made the announcement to release a dual-core version of its PowerPC 970FX microprocessor; the 970FX is currently being used in Apple’s G5 desktop computer systems. According to IBM, the upcoming chip would have 1MB of L2 cache with operating speeds of 1.4GHz to 2.5GHz.

IBM first made the announcement of the new chip at a technology event in Tokyo, Japan. Although Steve Jobs, Chief Executive, Apple Computer said the company would bring exciting products based on IBM’s microprocessor, it’s currently unclear whether Apple would opt for IBM’s upcoming chip.

One of main reasons Apple switched to Intel, according to Jobs, was the chip’s power consumption. Allegedly, IBM’s PowerPC chips consumed more power than Intel’s microprocessors. That fact, however, is about to change with IBM’s dual-core version of the 970FX. IBM said its forthcoming chip would have the capability to conserve energy by adjusting the voltage and frequency of both cores and even going into the standby or shutdown mode if there’s no activity.

The company said its 1.4GHz chip would consume 13 watts of power while the 1.6GHz version would consume 16 watts. According to analyst reports, these chips could be an interesting choice for Apple’s PowerBook notebook computers.

Neither IBM nor Apple confirmed if Apple was going to use IBM’s dual-core 970FX chip in imminent desktop systems.