With its Tegra chip already well-ensconced in some of the most highly anticipated tablets from Motorola and Samsung, Nvidia is keen on moving the market quickly to super-high-octane tablets packing quad-core processors. Nvidia's dual-core Tegra 2 is already in the Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab, and LG Optimus Pad. Those products are due in the coming weeks and months.

Not resting on its laurels, Nvidia has started sample shipments of a quad-core Tegra processor codenamed Kal-El. "We're providing samples now to our customers. We're expecting the first products with this processor to be out this holiday season," an Nvidia spokesperson told CNET today. In a blog, Nvidia said that customers are "planning production in August."The graphics chip supplier is claiming a five-fold increase in performance over the current Tegra 2 chip.

And it's a pretty safe bet that Nvidia's quad-core Tegra will make its way into tablets from some of the very same companies using the chip today. That would include Motorola, of course. Qualcomm and Texas Instruments have also announced plans for quad-core processors, but shipment dates are slated at a later date than Nvidia is claiming.