AMD and ATI fuse
By Tony Smith
25th October 2006 08:26 GMT
AMD has completed its purchase of ATI. It spent
$4.3bn in cash and 58m AMD shares on the graphics chip company,
taking on $2.5bn in debt to help pay for it all. Farewell, the ATI,
retained only as a product brand.
And with acquisition comes integration. AMD said it plans
to announce a number of platforms next year that will combine its
procesor technology with ATI's GPU designs, as Intel
Centrino-like platforms. Beyond that, in the 2008/2009 timeframe
will come Fusion: the integration of GPU into CPU. It's a logical
move: AMD has already brought key North Bridge chip components on
board the CPU, and now it's the turn of the integrated graphics
core.
It'll tout the strategy's benefits for power conservation and
enhanced CPU functionality to pitch the integrated products at
mobile applications and related systems, such as zero-noise
living-room media centres. However, it was quick to point out that
Fusion wil not impede AMD's newly acquired discrete GPU
business.
The plan may help AMD win more customers in the consumer
electronics space, in addition to the ones ATI was already
supplying with TV-oriented chips. By the same token, AMD is now a
major mobile phone chip player. Yesterday, it wasn't. ®
