AMD has been talking Fusion for a very long time now, a concept of merging CPU and GPU into one package. Competitor Intel has come a long way with its Clarkdale and Arrandale architecture, and is getting closer with the Sandy Bridge architecture that will physically mend the two together. AMD is going for a native Fusion solution from the start where the Llano architecture will open new doors in the beginning of next year. The company now claims that Fusion will be ideal for the tablet industry, among others.
Leslie Sobon, VP of marketing at AMD, says that Fusion and its APU design will offer great performance for both CPU and GPU applications in one circuit. This will ease manufacturing and lower power consumption, both very important aspects with ultramobile units.
He points to Apple’s success with iPad and says that AMD has the upper hand with its ATI base that can handle heavy loads like Flash and other functions, directly in the platform.
We have no doubt that Fusion will be an interesting platform even for tablets and mobile products as a whole, but AMD is far from alone with this concept and beside Intel there is also ARM with all of its partners that are coming up with their individual solutions for integrated graphics circuits. Competition is never a bad thing though.
