AMD Fuses CPU and GPU Units

AMD Fuses CPU and GPU Units
 
AMD’s Fusion project is finally on track; it has announced the merger of its GPU developing unit ATI with its CPU developing unit. The move gives AMD a streamlined business model with focus on both CPUs and GPUs coming from a single unit.
 
In line with the original goal of the Fusion project, the new behemoth will be focussing its efforts on developing CPUs with integrated graphics. AMD’s new business structure now consists of four groups which include the united products group in addition to the technology, marketing, and customer divisions.
 
Making the official announcement, AMD stated that the union of the two groups will “better optimise AMD’s operations to drive industry-leading performance graphics and microprocessors and further integrate the company’s x86 processor and graphics technologies.” ATI’s Rick Bergman has been entrusted the top job in the new products group.
 
Talking about the merger, AMD’s president and CEO, Dirk Meyer said, “The next generation of innovation in the computing industry will be grounded in the fusion of microprocessor and graphics technologies. With these changes, we are putting the right organization in place to help enable the future of computing.” 
 
Combining AMD’s CPU expertise with ATI’s GPU command, the Fusion project should create interesting new equations in the CPU and graphics industry. It could also pose a competitive threat to Intel, which is still struggling to streamline the performance of its own CPUs with integrated graphics. If the Fusion project succeeds in developing an AMD CPU with ATI graphics that support GPU APIs such as ATI Stream and OpenCL, it could give AMD a major edge over Intel.
 
It would be interesting to see the development of AMD, both in the CPU and GPU segments, and the changes that inputs from ATI’s team would bring about in the company’s CPU architecture in the near future.
 
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