Advanced Micro Devices
Encyclopedia
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. or AMD is an American multinational semiconductor
company based in Sunnyvale, California
, that develops computer processors
and related technologies for commercial and consumer markets. Its main products include microprocessor
s, motherboard
chipset
s, embedded processors and graphics processors
for server
s, workstation
s and personal computers, and embedded systems applications.
AMD is the second-largest global supplier of microprocessors based on the x86 architecture
and also one of the largest suppliers of graphics processing units. It also owns 8.6% of Spansion
, a supplier of non-volatile flash memory
.
AMD, is the only significant rival to Intel in the central processor (CPU) market for (x86 based) personal computers. Together they held 99.1 percent (Intel 80.3%, AMD 18.8%) of the CPU's sold for quarter three of 2011. AMD and competitor Nvidia
dominate the graphics processor (GPU) market, making up 78 percent (Nvidia 44.8%, AMD 33.2%) of the GPUs in use in (x86 based) personal computers (Intel holding 6.6%).
Advanced Micro Devices was founded on May 1, 1969, by a group of former executives from Fairchild Semiconductor
, including Jerry Sanders III
, Ed Turney
, John Carey, Sven Simonsen, Jack Gifford
and three members from Gifford's team, Frank Botte, Jim Giles, and Larry Stenger. The company began as a producer of logic chips, then entered the RAM chip business in 1975. That same year, it introduced a reverse-engineered
clone of the Intel 8080
microprocessor
. During this period, AMD also designed and produced a series of bit-slice processor elements (Am2900, Am29116, Am293xx) which were used in various minicomputer designs.
During this time, AMD attempted to embrace the perceived shift towards RISC with their own AMD 29K processor, and also attempted to diversify into graphics and audio devices as well as EPROM memory. It had some success in the mid-1980s with the AMD7910 and AMD7911 "World Chip" FSK
modem, one of the first multistandard devices that covered both Bell and CCITT tones at up to 1200 baud half duplex or 300/300 full duplex. The AMD 29K survived as an embedded processor and AMD spinoff Spansion continues to make industry leading flash memory
. AMD decided to switch gears and concentrate solely on Intel-compatible microprocessors and flash memory, placing them in direct competition with Intel for x86 compatible processors and their flash memory secondary markets.
AMD announced the acquisition of ATI Technologies
on July 24, 2006. AMD paid $4.3 billion in cash and 58 million shares of its stock
for a total of US$5.4 billion. The transaction completed on October 25, 2006.
It was reported in December 2006 that AMD, along with its main rival in the graphics industry Nvidia
, received subpoenas from the Justice Department
regarding possible antitrust violations in the graphics card industry, including the act of fixing prices.
In October 2008, AMD announced plans to spin off manufacturing operations in the form of a multibillion-dollar joint venture with Advanced Technology Investment Co., an investment company formed by the government of Abu Dhabi. The new venture is called GlobalFoundries Inc.
. This partnership will allow AMD to focus solely on chip design.
In August 2011, AMD announced that former Lenovo executive Rory Read would be joining the company as CEO.
On November 3, 2011 AMD said it was going to lay off 1,400 employees or about 10 percent of current worldwide staff. The curtailment will be finalized at Q1 2012 and mainly before Christmas 2011. It will cut operational saving by $10 million in Q4 2011 and more than $200 million in 2012.
, becoming a licensed second-source manufacturer of 8086
and 8088
processors. IBM
wanted to use the Intel 8088 in its IBM PC, but IBM's policy at the time was to require at least two sources for its chips. AMD later produced the Am286
under the same arrangement, but Intel canceled the agreement in 1986 and refused to convey technical details of the i386
part. AMD challenged Intel's decision to cancel the agreement and won in arbitration, but Intel disputed this decision. A long legal dispute followed, ending in 1994 when the Supreme Court of California
sided with AMD. Subsequent legal disputes centered on whether AMD had legal rights to use derivatives of Intel's microcode
. In the face of uncertainty, AMD was forced to develop clean room design
ed versions of Intel code.
In 1991, AMD released the Am386
, its clone of the Intel 386 processor. It took less than a year for the company to sell a million units. Later, the Am486
was used by a number of large original equipment manufacturer
s, including Compaq
, and proved popular. Another Am486-based product, the Am5x86, continued AMD's success as a low-price alternative. However, as product cycles shortened in the PC industry, the process of reverse engineering Intel's products became an ever less viable strategy for AMD.
which was launched in 1996. The "K" was a reference to Kryptonite
, which from comic book lore, was the only substance (radioactive pieces of his home planet) which could harm Superman, a clear reference to Intel, which dominated in the market at the time, as "Superman". The numeral "5" refers to the fifth processor generation, which Intel introduced as Pentium because the US Trademark and Patent Office ruled that mere numbers could not be trademarked.
In 1996, AMD purchased NexGen
specifically for the rights to their Nx series of x86-compatible processors. AMD gave the NexGen design team their own building, left them alone, and gave them time and money to rework the Nx686. The result was the K6
processor, introduced in 1997. Although the K6 was based on Socket 7
, variants such as K6-3/450 were faster than Intel's Pentium II (sixth generation processor).
The K7 was AMD's seventh generation x86 processor, making its debut on June 23, 1999, under the brand name Athlon. Unlike previous AMD processors, it could not be used on the same motherboards as Intels' due to licensing issues surrounding Intel's Slot 1
connector, and instead used a Slot A
connector, referenced to the Alpha
processor bus. The Duron
was a lower cost and limited version of the Athlon (64KB instead of 256KB L2 cache) in a 462-pin socketed PGA(socket A) or soldered directly on to the motherboard. Sempron
was released as a lower cost Athlon XP replacing Duron in the socket A
PGA era and since migrated upward to all new sockets up to AM3.
On October 9, 2001 the Athlon XP was released, followed by the Athlon XP with 512KB L2 Cache on February 10, 2003.
extension to the x86 instruction set (officially called AMD64), the incorporation of an on-chip memory controller, and the implementation of an extremely high performance point-to-point interconnect called HyperTransport
, as part of the Direct Connect Architecture
. The technology was initially launched as the Opteron
server-oriented processor. Shortly thereafter it was incorporated into a product for desktop PCs, branded Athlon 64
.
AMD released the first dual core Opteron
, an x86-based server CPU, on April 21, 2005. The first desktop-based dual core processor
family—the Athlon 64 X2
—came a month later. In early May 2007, AMD had abandoned the string "64" in its dual-core desktop product branding, becoming Athlon X2, downplaying the significance of 64-bit computing
in its processors while upcoming updates involved some of the improvements to the microarchitecture, and a shift of target market from mainstream desktop systems to value dual-core desktop systems. AMD has also started to release dual-core Sempron processors in early 2008 exclusively in China, branded as Sempron 2000 series, with lower HyperTransport speed and smaller L2 cache, thus the firm completes its dual-core product portfolio for each market segment.
The latest AMD microprocessor architecture, known as K10
, became the successor to the K8 microarchitecture
. The first processors released on this architecture were introduced on September 10, 2007 consisting of nine quad-core Third Generation Opteron processors. This was followed by the Phenom
processor for desktop. K10 processors came in dual-core, triple-core, and quad-core versions with all cores on a single die. A new platform codename "Spider" was released utilising the new Phenom processor as well as an R770 GPU and a 790 GX/FX chipset from the AMD 700 chipset series
. This was built at 65nm, hence it was uncompetitive with Intel, which had already progressed to the smaller and more power efficient 45nm node.
In January 2009 AMD released a new processor line dubbed Phenom II
, a refresh of the original Phenom built using the 45 nm process. Along with this came a new platform codename "Dragon" which utilised a new Phenom II processor, an ATI
R770 GPU from the R700
GPU family, as well as a 790 GX/FX chipset from the AMD 700 chipset series
. This came in dual-core, triple-core and quad-core variants, all using the same die with cores disabled for the triple-core and dual-core versions. This resolved issues that the original Phenom had including low clock speed, a small L3 cache and a Cool'n'Quiet
bug that decreased performance. This was price and performance competitive with Intel's mid to high range Core 2 Quads. The processor also enhanced the Phenom's memory controller, allowing it to use DDR3 in a new native socket AM3, while maintaining backwards compatibility with AM2+, the socket used for the Phenom, and allowing the use of the DDR2
memory that was used with the platform.
In April 2010 a new Phenom II hexa-core (6 core) processor codenamed "Thuban" was released by AMD. This is a totally new die based on the hexa-core "Istanbul" Opteron
processor. It also includes AMD's "turbo core" technology which allows the processor to automatically switch from 6 cores to 3 faster cores when more pure speed is needed. This is part of AMD's Enthusiast platform codenamed ”Leo" utilising a new Phenom II processor, a new chipset from the AMD 800 chipset series
and an ATI
"Cypress" GPU from the Evergreen (GPU family) GPU series.
The Magny Cours and Lisbon server parts will be released in 2010. The Magny Cours part will come in 8 to 12 cores and the Lisbon part will come in 4 and 6 core parts. Magny Cours is focused on performance while the Lisbon part is focused on high performance per watt. Magny Cours is an MCM (Multi-Chip Module
) with two hexa-core "Istanbul" Opteron
parts. This will use a new G34 socket for dual and quad socket processors and thus will be marketed as Opteron 61xx series processors. Lisbon uses C32 socket certified for dual socket use or single socket use only and thus will be marketed as Opteron 41xx processors. Both will be built on a 45 nm SOI process.
was announced that will merge a CPU and GPU on some of their entry level chips, including a minimum 16 lane PCI Express
link to accommodate external PCI Express peripherals, thereby eliminating the requirement of a northbridge
chip completely from the motherboard. The initiative will see some of the processing originally done on the CPU (e.g. Floating Point Unit
operations) moved to the GPU, which is better optimized for calculations such as Floating Point Unit calculations. This is referred to by AMD as an Accelerated Processing Unit (APU). AMD will move to a modular design methodology named "M-SPACE", where two new processor cores, codenamed "Bulldozer
" and "Bobcat
" will be released; Bulldozer is slated for the 2011 timeframe, whereas Bobcat is expected in Q4 2010.
While very little preliminary information exists even in AMD's Technology Analyst Day 2007, both cores are to be built from the ground up. The Bulldozer core focused on 10 watt to 100 watt products, with optimizations for performance-per-watt ratios and HPC applications and includes newly announced XOP
, FMA4 and CVT16
instructions, while the Bobcat core will focus on 1 watt to 10 watt products, given that the core is a simplified x86 core to reduce power draw. Both of the cores will be able to incorporate full DirectX compatible GPU core(s) under the Fusion label, or as standalone products as a general purpose CPU.
Llano is to be the second APU released, targeted at the mainstream market. This will incorporate a CPU and GPU on the same die, as well as the Northbridge
functions, and labeled on AMD's new timeline as using "Socket FM1
" with DDR3 memory. This will, however, not be based on the new bulldozer core and will in fact be similar to the current Phenom II
"Deneb" processor serving as AMD's high-end processor until the release of the new 32 nm parts. On September 28, 2011, AMD said that the third quarter of 2011 won't have a 10% revenue increase as AMD planned before, because of the manufacturing problem with the 32nm Llano Fusion chips.
Bulldozer is revealed to be organized in modules, each consisting of two integer cores capable of processing integers and one floating point unit (FPU). Each module will be seen by the OS
as two cores and all of AMD's new 2011, 32 nm high-end desktop and server parts will be built on the Bulldozer microarchitecture
, including Zambezi and Orochi for the desktop and Interlagos and Valencia for the server market. AMD’s Bulldozer/Orochi core die size is 315mm^2.
On August 31, 2011, AMD's Bulldozer created a new world record for CPU speed of 8429.4MHz (the old record was 8308.9MHz).
On September 26, 2011, new Opteron central processing units (CPUs), AMD's first new micro-architecture in eight years, will be unveiled. According to AMD, these new microprocessors' performance is 35% higher than current Opteron chips.
in 2007, AMD restructured some of its combined product lines. Since 2010, all of the company's graphics processing products have been marketed under the AMD brand name.
The following are notable graphics processing product families and technologies by AMD:
processors in 2003, AMD designed chipset
s for their processors spanning the K6
and K7 processor generations. The chipsets include the AMD-640, AMD-751 and the AMD-761 chipsets. The situation changed in 2003 with the release of Athlon 64
processors, and AMD chose not to further design its own chipsets for its desktop processors while opening the desktop platform to allow other firms to design chipsets. This is the "Open Platform Management Architecture
" with ATI
, VIA
and SiS
developing their own chipset for Athlon 64
processors and later Athlon 64 X2
and Athlon 64 FX processors, including the Quad FX platform chipset from Nvidia.
The initiative went further with the release of Opteron
server processors as AMD stopped the design of server chipsets in 2004 after releasing the AMD-8111 chipset, and again opened the server platform for firms to develop chipsets for Opteron processors. As of today, Nvidia
and Broadcom
are the sole designing firms of server chipsets for Opteron processors.
As the company completed the acquisition of ATI Technologies in 2006, the firm gained the ATI design team for chipsets which previously designed the Radeon Xpress 200
and the Radeon Xpress 3200
chipsets. AMD then renamed the chipsets for AMD processors under AMD branding (for instance, the CrossFire Xpress 3200 chipset was renamed as AMD 580X CrossFire chipset). In February 2007, AMD announced the first AMD-branded chipset since 2004 with the release of the AMD 690G
chipset (previously under the development codename RS690), targeted at mainstream IGP computing. It was the industry's first to implement a HDMI
1.2 port on motherboards, shipping for more than a million units. While ATI had aimed at releasing an Intel IGP chipset, the plan was scrapped and the inventories of Radeon Xpress 1250 (codenamed RS600, sold under ATI brand) was sold to two OEMs, Abit and ASRock. Although AMD states the firm will still produce Intel chipsets, Intel had not granted the license of FSB to ATI.
On November 15, 2007, AMD announced a new chipset series portfolio, the AMD 7-Series chipsets
, covering from enthusiast multi-graphics segment to value IGP segment, to replace the AMD 480/570/580 chipsets and AMD 690 series chipsets
, marking AMD's first enthusiast multi-graphics chipset. Discrete graphics chipsets were launched on November 15, 2007 as part of the codenamed Spider desktop platform, and IGP chipsets were launched at a later time in Spring 2008 as part of the codenamed Cartwheel platform.
AMD returned to the server chipsets market with the AMD 800S series server chipsets
. It includes support for up to six SATA 6.0 Gbit/s ports, the C6 power state, which is featured in Fusion
processors and AHCI
1.2 with SATA FIS–based switching support. This is a chipset family supporting Phenom
processors and Quad FX enthusiast platform (890FX), IGP(890GX).
, which is a similar setup to dual-processor (2P) servers, excluding the use of buffered memory/registered memory
DIMM
modules, and a server motherboard, the current setup includes two Athlon 64 FX-70 series processors and a special motherboard. AMD pushed the platform for the surging demands for what AMD calls "megatasking" for true enthusiasts, the ability to do more tasks on a single system. The platform refreshes with the introduction of Phenom FX
processors and the next-generation RD790 chipset, codenamed "FASN8".
server platform after ATI acquisition consists of AMD SR5690 + SP5100 server chipsets
, supporting 45 nm, codenamed Shanghai Socket F+
processors and registered DDR2 memory. Future update include the Maranello
platform supporting 45 nm, codenamed Istanbul, Socket G34
processors with DDR3 memory. On single-processor platform, the codenamed Catalunya platform consists of codenamed Suzuka 45 nm quad-core processor with AMD SR5580 + SP5100 chipset
and DDR3 support.
AMD's x86 virtualization
extension to the 64-bit x86 architecture is named AMD Virtualization, also known by the abbreviation AMD-V, and is sometimes referred to by the code name "Pacifica". AMD processors using Socket AM2
, Socket S1
, and Socket F
include AMD Virtualization support. AMD Virtualization is also supported by release two (8200, 2200 and 1200 series) of the Opteron processors. The third generation (8300 and 2300 series) of Opteron
processors will see an update in virtualization technology, specifically the Rapid Virtualization Indexing (also known by the development name Nested Page Tables), alongside the Tagged TLB
and Device Exclusion Vector (DEV).
AMD also promotes the "AMD I/O Virtualization Technology" (also known as IOMMU
) for I/O virtualization. The AMD IOMMU specification has been updated to version 1.2. The specification describes the use of a HyperTransport
architecture.
AMD's commercial initiatives include the following:
or Dragon
. The platforms, unlike Intel's approach, will refresh every year, putting focus on platform specialization. The platform includes components as AMD processors, chipsets, ATI graphics and other features, but continued to the open platform approach, and welcome components from other vendors such as VIA, SiS, and Nvidia, as well as wireless product vendors.
Updates to the platform includes the implementation of IOMMU
I/O Virtualization with 45 nm generation of processors, and the AMD 800 chipset series
in 2009.
line of MIPS
processors for the hand-held and portable media player
markets. On June 13, 2006, AMD officially announced that the line was to be transferred to Raza Microelectronics, Inc., a designer of MIPS processors for embedded applications.
In August 2003, AMD also purchased the Geode
business which was originally the Cyrix
MediaGX
from National Semiconductor
to augment its existing line of embedded x86 processor products. During the second quarter of 2004, it launched new low-power Geode NX processors based on the K7 Thoroughbred architecture with speeds of fanless processors and , and processor with fan, of TDP
25 W
. This technology is used in a variety of embedded systems (Casino slot machines and customer kiosks for instance), several UMPC designs in Asia markets, as well as the OLPC XO-1 computer
, an inexpensive laptop computer intended to be distributed to children in developing countries around the world.
For the past couple of years AMD has been introducing 64-bit
processors into its embedded product line starting with the AMD Opteron
processor. Leveraging the high throughput enabled through HyperTransport
and the Direct Connect Architecture
these server class processors have been targeted at high end telecom and storage applications. In 2007 AMD added the AMD Athlon, AMD Turion and Mobile AMD Sempron processors to its embedded product line. Leveraging the same 64-bit
instruction set and Direct Connect Architecture
as the AMD Opteron
but at lower power levels, these processors were well suited to a variety of traditional embedded applications. Throughout 2007 and into 2008 AMD has continued to add both single-core Mobile AMD Sempron and AMD Athlon processors and dual-core
AMD Athlon X2 and AMD Turion processors to its embedded product line and now offers embedded 64-bit
solutions starting with 8W TDP Mobile AMD Sempron and AMD Athlon processors for fan-less designs up to multi-processor systems leveraging multi-core AMD Opteron processors all supporting longer than standard availability.
In April 2007, AMD announced the release of the M690T integrated graphics chipset for embedded designs. This enabled AMD to offer complete processor and chipset solutions targeted at embedded applications requiring high performance 3D and video such as emerging digital signage, kiosk and Point of Sale applications. The M690T was followed by the M690E specifically for embedded applications which removed the TV output, which required Macrovision
licensing for OEMs, and enabled native support for dual TMDS
outputs, enabling dual independent DVI
interfaces.
. In 1993, AMD established a 50-50 partnership with Fujitsu
called FASL, and merged into a new company called FASL LLC
in 2003. The joint venture firm went public under ticker symbol SPSN in December 2005, with AMD shares drop to 37%.
AMD no longer directly participates in the Flash memory devices market now as AMD entered into a non-competition agreement, as of December 21, 2005, with Fujitsu and Spansion, pursuant to which it agreed not to directly or indirectly engage in a business that manufactures or supplies standalone semiconductor devices (including single chip, multiple chip or system devices) containing only Flash memory.
AMD started a platform in 2003 aimed at mobile computing, but, with fewer advertisements and promotional schemes, very little was known about the platform. The platform used mobile Athlon 64 or mobile Sempron processors.
The Puma platform and Turion Ultra processors were released on June 4, 2008. Unlike the desktop AMD Phenom processors of the time, Puma's Turion Ultra processors were based on older Athlon 64 X2 (K8)
technology.
September 10, 2009 saw the release of the Tigris platform; The first AMD mobile platform to use processors based on the K10
architecture, and first to use the new AMD Vision
brand, categorizing laptop
computers into four categories, based on performance.
The Danube platform was released on March 12, 2010, introducing quad-core processors and DDR3 support.
The Fusion
based Sabine platform was released in June 2011, utilizing up to four K10.5
based Stars cores, manufactured on the 32 nm SOI process.
has been responsible for producing AMD's processors.
GlobalFoundries
' main microprocessor manufacturing facilities are located in Dresden
, Germany. Additionally, highly integrated microprocessors are manufactured in Taiwan made by third-party manufacturers under strict license from AMD. Between 2003 and 2005, they constructed a second manufacturing plant ( 90 nm process SOI
) in the same complex in order to increase the number of chips they can produce, thus becoming more competitive with Intel. The new plant has been named "Fab 36", in recognition of AMD's 36 years of operation, and reached full production in mid-2007. Fab 36 has been renamed to Fab 1 during the spinoff of AMD's manufacturing business during the creation of GlobalFoundries
. In July 2007, AMD announced that they completed the conversion of Fab 1 Module 1 from to 65 nm. They then shifted their focus to the 45 nm conversion.
A partnership between AMD and Alpha Processor Inc. developed HyperTransport
, a point-to-point interconnect standard which was turned over to an industry standards body for finalization. It is now used in modern AMD processor compatible motherboards.
AMD also formed a strategic partnership with IBM, under which AMD gained silicon on insulator
(SOI) manufacturing technology, and detailed advice on 90 nm implementation, the partnership was announced by AMD to be extended to 2011 for 32 nm and 22 nm fabrication related technologies. Further, AMD is loosely partnered with end-user companies such as HP
, Compaq
, ASUS
, Alienware
, Acer
, Evesham Technology
, Dell
and several others to facilitate processor distribution and sales.
On May 18, 2006, Dell announced that it would roll out new servers based on AMD's Opteron chips by years end, thus ending an exclusive relationship with Intel. Dell also began offering AMD Athlon X2 chips in their desktop line-up in September 2006.
AMD is also a sponsor of the Scuderia Ferrari
Marlboro F1 Team since 2002 and the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
since 2004, in 2009 AMD also became the jersey sponsor of the USL
expansion team Austin Aztex FC.
In June 2011, HP announced new business and consumer notebooks equipped with the latest versions of AMD APUs – accelerated processing units. AMD will power HP's Intel-based business notebooks as well.
.
s. The event held in mid-year is referred to as "Technology Analyst Day", with its main focus on upcoming technologies and trends. The end-of-year event is referred to as "Financial Analyst Day" and focuses on the financial performance of the company through the previous year.
In addition to these events, AMD also publishes printed media. Publications include the AMD Accelerate and the discontinued AMDEdge. The AMD Accelerate magazine, originally published through Ziff Davis Media
, focuses on SME and business applications, while AMD Edge focused on overall technologies from AMD. Since Ziff Davis Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the AMD Accelerate magazine has been published through IDG. AMD also has electronic newsletter
s to promote its server-oriented Opteron
processors and related business solutions.
On November 1st, 2011, AMD's exact same microprocessor, the FX-8150 was used to break the record yet-again at a slightly higher 8.461GHz.
Semiconductor industry
The semiconductor industry is the aggregate collection of companies engaged in the design and fabrication of semiconductor devices. It formed around 1960, once the fabrication of semiconductors became a viable business...
company based in Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley located in the San Francisco Bay Area...
, that develops computer processors
Central processing unit
The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...
and related technologies for commercial and consumer markets. Its main products include microprocessor
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
s, motherboard
Motherboard
In personal computers, a motherboard is the central printed circuit board in many modern computers and holds many of the crucial components of the system, providing connectors for other peripherals. The motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the mainboard, system board, or, on Apple...
chipset
Chipset
A chipset, PC chipset, or chip set refers to a group of integrated circuits, or chips, that are designed to work together. They are usually marketed as a single product.- Computers :...
s, embedded processors and graphics processors
Graphics processing unit
A graphics processing unit or GPU is a specialized circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory in such a way so as to accelerate the building of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display...
for server
Server (computing)
In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...
s, workstation
Workstation
A workstation is a high-end microcomputer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by one person at a time, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems...
s and personal computers, and embedded systems applications.
AMD is the second-largest global supplier of microprocessors based on the x86 architecture
X86 architecture
The term x86 refers to a family of instruction set architectures based on the Intel 8086 CPU. The 8086 was launched in 1978 as a fully 16-bit extension of Intel's 8-bit based 8080 microprocessor and also introduced segmentation to overcome the 16-bit addressing barrier of such designs...
and also one of the largest suppliers of graphics processing units. It also owns 8.6% of Spansion
Spansion
Spansion Inc. is a Flash memory chip maker that designs, develops and manufactures NOR flash memory products. The company has over 3,400 employees and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. Spansion is a former joint-venture between AMD and Fujitsu....
, a supplier of non-volatile flash memory
Flash memory
Flash memory is a non-volatile computer storage chip that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It was developed from EEPROM and must be erased in fairly large blocks before these can be rewritten with new data...
.
AMD, is the only significant rival to Intel in the central processor (CPU) market for (x86 based) personal computers. Together they held 99.1 percent (Intel 80.3%, AMD 18.8%) of the CPU's sold for quarter three of 2011. AMD and competitor Nvidia
NVIDIA
Nvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles...
dominate the graphics processor (GPU) market, making up 78 percent (Nvidia 44.8%, AMD 33.2%) of the GPUs in use in (x86 based) personal computers (Intel holding 6.6%).
Corporate history
Advanced Micro Devices was founded on May 1, 1969, by a group of former executives from Fairchild Semiconductor
Fairchild Semiconductor
Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. is an American semiconductor company based in San Jose, California. Founded in 1957, it was a pioneer in transistor and integrated circuit manufacturing...
, including Jerry Sanders III
Jerry Sanders (businessman)
Walter Jeremiah Sanders III was a co-founder and a long-time CEO of the American semiconductor manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices ....
, Ed Turney
Edwin Turney
Edwin James Turney is best known as one of the founders of Advanced Micro Devices serving as the Vice President of Sales and Administration from 1969 to 1974.-Early life:...
, John Carey, Sven Simonsen, Jack Gifford
Jack Gifford (businessman)
John "Jack" F. Gifford was an American engineer and businessman best known as a founder and former CEO, President and Chairman of the Board of Maxim Integrated Products, an analog semi-conductor company, located in Sunnyvale, California...
and three members from Gifford's team, Frank Botte, Jim Giles, and Larry Stenger. The company began as a producer of logic chips, then entered the RAM chip business in 1975. That same year, it introduced a reverse-engineered
Reverse engineering
Reverse engineering is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device, object, or system through analysis of its structure, function, and operation...
clone of the Intel 8080
Intel 8080
The Intel 8080 was the second 8-bit microprocessor designed and manufactured by Intel and was released in April 1974. It was an extended and enhanced variant of the earlier 8008 design, although without binary compatibility...
microprocessor
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
. During this period, AMD also designed and produced a series of bit-slice processor elements (Am2900, Am29116, Am293xx) which were used in various minicomputer designs.
During this time, AMD attempted to embrace the perceived shift towards RISC with their own AMD 29K processor, and also attempted to diversify into graphics and audio devices as well as EPROM memory. It had some success in the mid-1980s with the AMD7910 and AMD7911 "World Chip" FSK
Frequency-shift keying
Frequency-shift keying is a frequency modulation scheme in which digital information is transmitted through discrete frequency changes of a carrier wave. The simplest FSK is binary FSK . BFSK uses a pair of discrete frequencies to transmit binary information. With this scheme, the "1" is called...
modem, one of the first multistandard devices that covered both Bell and CCITT tones at up to 1200 baud half duplex or 300/300 full duplex. The AMD 29K survived as an embedded processor and AMD spinoff Spansion continues to make industry leading flash memory
Flash memory
Flash memory is a non-volatile computer storage chip that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It was developed from EEPROM and must be erased in fairly large blocks before these can be rewritten with new data...
. AMD decided to switch gears and concentrate solely on Intel-compatible microprocessors and flash memory, placing them in direct competition with Intel for x86 compatible processors and their flash memory secondary markets.
AMD announced the acquisition of ATI Technologies
ATI Technologies
ATI Technologies Inc. was a semiconductor technology corporation based in Markham, Ontario, Canada, that specialized in the development of graphics processing units and chipsets. Founded in 1985 as Array Technologies Inc., the company was listed publicly in 1993 and was acquired by Advanced Micro...
on July 24, 2006. AMD paid $4.3 billion in cash and 58 million shares of its stock
Stock
The capital stock of a business entity represents the original capital paid into or invested in the business by its founders. It serves as a security for the creditors of a business since it cannot be withdrawn to the detriment of the creditors...
for a total of US$5.4 billion. The transaction completed on October 25, 2006.
It was reported in December 2006 that AMD, along with its main rival in the graphics industry Nvidia
NVIDIA
Nvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles...
, received subpoenas from the Justice Department
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
regarding possible antitrust violations in the graphics card industry, including the act of fixing prices.
In October 2008, AMD announced plans to spin off manufacturing operations in the form of a multibillion-dollar joint venture with Advanced Technology Investment Co., an investment company formed by the government of Abu Dhabi. The new venture is called GlobalFoundries Inc.
GLOBALFOUNDRIES
GlobalFoundries Inc. is the world's third largest independent semiconductor foundry, with its headquarters located in Milpitas, California. GlobalFoundries was created by the divestiture of the manufacturing side of AMD on March 2, 2009, and was expanded through its merger with Chartered...
. This partnership will allow AMD to focus solely on chip design.
In August 2011, AMD announced that former Lenovo executive Rory Read would be joining the company as CEO.
On November 3, 2011 AMD said it was going to lay off 1,400 employees or about 10 percent of current worldwide staff. The curtailment will be finalized at Q1 2012 and mainly before Christmas 2011. It will cut operational saving by $10 million in Q4 2011 and more than $200 million in 2012.
Processor market history
IBM PC and the x86 architecture
In February 1982, AMD signed a contract with IntelIntel Corporation
Intel Corporation is an American multinational semiconductor chip maker corporation headquartered in Santa Clara, California, United States and the world's largest semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue. It is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most...
, becoming a licensed second-source manufacturer of 8086
Intel 8086
The 8086 is a 16-bit microprocessor chip designed by Intel between early 1976 and mid-1978, when it was released. The 8086 gave rise to the x86 architecture of Intel's future processors...
and 8088
Intel 8088
The Intel 8088 microprocessor was a variant of the Intel 8086 and was introduced on July 1, 1979. It had an 8-bit external data bus instead of the 16-bit bus of the 8086. The 16-bit registers and the one megabyte address range were unchanged, however...
processors. IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
wanted to use the Intel 8088 in its IBM PC, but IBM's policy at the time was to require at least two sources for its chips. AMD later produced the Am286
Am286
AMD started in the x86 business as a second-source manufacturer for Intel's chip designs. IBM demanded all suppliers have a second manufacturing source, and Intel had to license another company to secure the IBM PC contract...
under the same arrangement, but Intel canceled the agreement in 1986 and refused to convey technical details of the i386
Intel 80386
The Intel 80386, also known as the i386, or just 386, was a 32-bit microprocessor introduced by Intel in 1985. The first versions had 275,000 transistors and were used as the central processing unit of many workstations and high-end personal computers of the time...
part. AMD challenged Intel's decision to cancel the agreement and won in arbitration, but Intel disputed this decision. A long legal dispute followed, ending in 1994 when the Supreme Court of California
Supreme Court of California
The Supreme Court of California is the highest state court in California. It is headquartered in San Francisco and regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacramento. Its decisions are binding on all other California state courts.-Composition:...
sided with AMD. Subsequent legal disputes centered on whether AMD had legal rights to use derivatives of Intel's microcode
Microcode
Microcode is a layer of hardware-level instructions and/or data structures involved in the implementation of higher level machine code instructions in many computers and other processors; it resides in special high-speed memory and translates machine instructions into sequences of detailed...
. In the face of uncertainty, AMD was forced to develop clean room design
Clean room design
Clean room design is the method of copying a design by reverse engineering and then recreating it without infringing any of the copyrights and trade secrets associated with the original design. Clean room design is useful as a defense against copyright and trade secret infringement because it...
ed versions of Intel code.
In 1991, AMD released the Am386
Am386
The Am386 CPU was a 100%-compatible clone of the Intel 80386 design released by AMD in 1991. It sold millions of units, positioning AMD as a legitimate competitor to Intel, rather than being merely a second source for x86 CPUs ....
, its clone of the Intel 386 processor. It took less than a year for the company to sell a million units. Later, the Am486
Am486
The Am486 is a 80486-class family of computer processors that was produced by AMD in the 1990s. Intel beat AMD to market by nearly four years, but AMD priced its 40 MHz 486 at or below Intel's price for a 33 MHz chip, offering about 20% better performance for the same price.While...
was used by a number of large original equipment manufacturer
Original Equipment Manufacturer
An original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, manufactures products or components that are purchased by a company and retailed under that purchasing company's brand name. OEM refers to the company that originally manufactured the product. When referring to automotive parts, OEM designates a...
s, including Compaq
Compaq
Compaq Computer Corporation is a personal computer company founded in 1982. Once the largest supplier of personal computing systems in the world, Compaq existed as an independent corporation until 2002, when it was acquired for US$25 billion by Hewlett-Packard....
, and proved popular. Another Am486-based product, the Am5x86, continued AMD's success as a low-price alternative. However, as product cycles shortened in the PC industry, the process of reverse engineering Intel's products became an ever less viable strategy for AMD.
K5, K6, Athlon, Duron, and Sempron
AMD's first in-house x86 processor was the K5AMD K5
The K5 was AMD's first x86 processor to be developed entirely in-house. Introduced in March 1996, its primary competition was Intel's Pentium microprocessor. The K5 was an ambitious design, closer to a Pentium Pro than a Pentium regarding technical solutions and internal architecture...
which was launched in 1996. The "K" was a reference to Kryptonite
Kryptonite
Kryptonite is a fictional material from the Superman mythos —the ore form of a radioactive element from Superman's home planet of Krypton. It is famous for being the ultimate physical weakness of Superman, and the word kryptonite has since become synonymous with an Achilles' heel —the one weakness...
, which from comic book lore, was the only substance (radioactive pieces of his home planet) which could harm Superman, a clear reference to Intel, which dominated in the market at the time, as "Superman". The numeral "5" refers to the fifth processor generation, which Intel introduced as Pentium because the US Trademark and Patent Office ruled that mere numbers could not be trademarked.
In 1996, AMD purchased NexGen
NexGen
NexGen was a private semiconductor company that designed x86 microprocessors until it was purchased by AMD in 1996.Like competitor Cyrix, NexGen was a fabless design house that designed its chips but relied on other companies for production...
specifically for the rights to their Nx series of x86-compatible processors. AMD gave the NexGen design team their own building, left them alone, and gave them time and money to rework the Nx686. The result was the K6
AMD K6
The K6 microprocessor was launched by AMD in 1997. The main advantage of this particular microprocessor is that it was designed to fit into existing desktop designs for Pentium branded CPUs. It was marketed as a product which could perform as well as its Intel Pentium II equivalent but at a...
processor, introduced in 1997. Although the K6 was based on Socket 7
Socket 7
Socket 7 is a physical and electrical specification for an x86-style CPU socket on a personal computer motherboard. The socket supersedes the earlier Socket 5, and accepts P5 Pentium microprocessors manufactured by Intel, as well as compatibles made by Cyrix/IBM, AMD, IDT and others.Socket 7 was...
, variants such as K6-3/450 were faster than Intel's Pentium II (sixth generation processor).
The K7 was AMD's seventh generation x86 processor, making its debut on June 23, 1999, under the brand name Athlon. Unlike previous AMD processors, it could not be used on the same motherboards as Intels' due to licensing issues surrounding Intel's Slot 1
Slot 1
Slot 1 refers to the physical and electrical specification for the connector used by some of Intel's microprocessors, including the Pentium Pro, Celeron, Pentium II and the Pentium III...
connector, and instead used a Slot A
Slot A
Slot A refers to the physical and electrical specification for a 242-lead single-edge-connector used by early versions of AMD's Athlon processor.The Slot A connector allows for a higher bus rate than Socket 7 or Super Socket 7...
connector, referenced to the Alpha
DEC Alpha
Alpha, originally known as Alpha AXP, is a 64-bit reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by Digital Equipment Corporation , designed to replace the 32-bit VAX complex instruction set computer ISA and its implementations. Alpha was implemented in microprocessors...
processor bus. The Duron
Duron
The AMD Duron was an x86-compatible microprocessor manufactured by AMD. It was released on June 19, 2000 as a low-cost alternative to AMD's own Athlon processor and the Pentium III and Celeron processor lines from rival Intel...
was a lower cost and limited version of the Athlon (64KB instead of 256KB L2 cache) in a 462-pin socketed PGA(socket A) or soldered directly on to the motherboard. Sempron
Sempron
Sempron has been the marketing name used by AMD for several different budget desktop CPUs, using several different technologies and CPU socket formats. The Sempron replaced the AMD Duron processor and competes against Intel's Celeron series of processors...
was released as a lower cost Athlon XP replacing Duron in the socket A
Socket A
Socket A is the CPU socket used for AMD processors ranging from the Athlon Thunderbird to the Athlon XP/MP 3200+, and AMD budget processors including the Duron and Sempron. Socket A also supports AMD Geode NX embedded processors...
PGA era and since migrated upward to all new sockets up to AM3.
On October 9, 2001 the Athlon XP was released, followed by the Athlon XP with 512KB L2 Cache on February 10, 2003.
Athlon 64, Opteron and Phenom
The K8 was a major revision of the K7 architecture, with the most notable features being the addition of a 64-bitX86-64
x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...
extension to the x86 instruction set (officially called AMD64), the incorporation of an on-chip memory controller, and the implementation of an extremely high performance point-to-point interconnect called HyperTransport
HyperTransport
HyperTransport , formerly known as Lightning Data Transport , is a technology for interconnection of computer processors. It is a bidirectional serial/parallel high-bandwidth, low-latency point-to-point link that was introduced on April 2, 2001...
, as part of the Direct Connect Architecture
Direct Connect Architecture
The Direct Connect Architecture is the I/O architecture of the Athlon 64 X2, Opteron, and Phenom microprocessors from AMD. It consists of the combination of three elements:...
. The technology was initially launched as the Opteron
Opteron
Opteron is AMD's x86 server and workstation processor line, and was the first processor which supported the AMD64 instruction set architecture . It was released on April 22, 2003 with the SledgeHammer core and was intended to compete in the server and workstation markets, particularly in the same...
server-oriented processor. Shortly thereafter it was incorporated into a product for desktop PCs, branded Athlon 64
Athlon 64
The Athlon 64 is an eighth-generation, AMD64-architecture microprocessor produced by AMD, released on September 23, 2003. It is the third processor to bear the name Athlon, and the immediate successor to the Athlon XP...
.
AMD released the first dual core Opteron
Opteron
Opteron is AMD's x86 server and workstation processor line, and was the first processor which supported the AMD64 instruction set architecture . It was released on April 22, 2003 with the SledgeHammer core and was intended to compete in the server and workstation markets, particularly in the same...
, an x86-based server CPU, on April 21, 2005. The first desktop-based dual core processor
Multi-core (computing)
A multi-core processor is a single computing component with two or more independent actual processors , which are the units that read and execute program instructions...
family—the Athlon 64 X2
Athlon 64 X2
The Athlon 64 X2 is the first dual-core desktop CPU designed by AMD. It was designed from scratch as native dual-core by using an already multi-CPU enabled Athlon 64, joining it with another functional core on one die, and connecting both via a shared dual-channel memory controller/north bridge and...
—came a month later. In early May 2007, AMD had abandoned the string "64" in its dual-core desktop product branding, becoming Athlon X2, downplaying the significance of 64-bit computing
X86-64
x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...
in its processors while upcoming updates involved some of the improvements to the microarchitecture, and a shift of target market from mainstream desktop systems to value dual-core desktop systems. AMD has also started to release dual-core Sempron processors in early 2008 exclusively in China, branded as Sempron 2000 series, with lower HyperTransport speed and smaller L2 cache, thus the firm completes its dual-core product portfolio for each market segment.
The latest AMD microprocessor architecture, known as K10
AMD K10
The AMD Family 10h is a microprocessor microarchitecture by AMD. Though there were once reports that the K10 had been canceled, the first third-generation Opteron products for servers were launched on September 10, 2007, with the Phenom processors for desktops following and launching on November...
, became the successor to the K8 microarchitecture
Microarchitecture
In computer engineering, microarchitecture , also called computer organization, is the way a given instruction set architecture is implemented on a processor. A given ISA may be implemented with different microarchitectures. Implementations might vary due to different goals of a given design or...
. The first processors released on this architecture were introduced on September 10, 2007 consisting of nine quad-core Third Generation Opteron processors. This was followed by the Phenom
Phenom (processor)
Phenom is the 64-bit AMD desktop processor line based on the K10 microarchitecture, in what AMD calls family 10h processors, sometimes incorrectly called "K10h". Triple-core versions belong to the Phenom 8000 series and quad cores to the AMD Phenom X4 9000 series...
processor for desktop. K10 processors came in dual-core, triple-core, and quad-core versions with all cores on a single die. A new platform codename "Spider" was released utilising the new Phenom processor as well as an R770 GPU and a 790 GX/FX chipset from the AMD 700 chipset series
AMD 700 chipset series
The AMD 700 chipset series is a set of chipsets designed by ATI for AMD Phenom processors to be sold under the AMD brand...
. This was built at 65nm, hence it was uncompetitive with Intel, which had already progressed to the smaller and more power efficient 45nm node.
In January 2009 AMD released a new processor line dubbed Phenom II
Phenom II
Phenom II is a family of AMD's multi-core 45 nm processors using the AMD K10 microarchitecture, succeeding the original Phenom. Advanced Micro Devices released the Socket AM2+ version of Phenom II in December 2008, while Socket AM3 versions with DDR3 support, along with an initial batch of...
, a refresh of the original Phenom built using the 45 nm process. Along with this came a new platform codename "Dragon" which utilised a new Phenom II processor, an ATI
Ati
As a word, Ati may refer to:* Ati, a town in Chad* Ati, a Negrito ethnic group in the Philippines* Ati-Atihan Festival, an annual celebration held in the Philippines* Ati, a queen of the fabled Land of Punt in Africa...
R770 GPU from the R700
Radeon R700
The Radeon R700 is the engineering codename for a graphics processing unit series developed by Advanced Micro Devices under the ATI brand name. The foundation chip, codenamed RV770, was announced and demonstrated on June 16, 2008 as part of the FireStream 9250 and Cinema 2.0 initiative launch media...
GPU family, as well as a 790 GX/FX chipset from the AMD 700 chipset series
AMD 700 chipset series
The AMD 700 chipset series is a set of chipsets designed by ATI for AMD Phenom processors to be sold under the AMD brand...
. This came in dual-core, triple-core and quad-core variants, all using the same die with cores disabled for the triple-core and dual-core versions. This resolved issues that the original Phenom had including low clock speed, a small L3 cache and a Cool'n'Quiet
Cool'n'Quiet
Cool'n'Quiet is a CPU speed throttling and power saving technology introduced by AMD with its Athlon 64 processor line. It works by reducing the processor's clock rate and voltage when the processor is idle. The aim of this technology is to reduce overall power consumption and lower heat...
bug that decreased performance. This was price and performance competitive with Intel's mid to high range Core 2 Quads. The processor also enhanced the Phenom's memory controller, allowing it to use DDR3 in a new native socket AM3, while maintaining backwards compatibility with AM2+, the socket used for the Phenom, and allowing the use of the DDR2
DDR2 SDRAM
DDR2 SDRAM is a double data rate synchronous dynamic random-access memory interface. It supersedes the original DDR SDRAM specification and has itself been superseded by DDR3 SDRAM...
memory that was used with the platform.
In April 2010 a new Phenom II hexa-core (6 core) processor codenamed "Thuban" was released by AMD. This is a totally new die based on the hexa-core "Istanbul" Opteron
Opteron
Opteron is AMD's x86 server and workstation processor line, and was the first processor which supported the AMD64 instruction set architecture . It was released on April 22, 2003 with the SledgeHammer core and was intended to compete in the server and workstation markets, particularly in the same...
processor. It also includes AMD's "turbo core" technology which allows the processor to automatically switch from 6 cores to 3 faster cores when more pure speed is needed. This is part of AMD's Enthusiast platform codenamed ”Leo" utilising a new Phenom II processor, a new chipset from the AMD 800 chipset series
AMD 800 chipset series
The AMD 800 chipset series is a set of chipsets developed by AMD, released in 2009. The chipset series was revealed in its presentation slides during the AMD Financial Analyst Day 2007 held on December 13, 2007...
and an ATI
Ati
As a word, Ati may refer to:* Ati, a town in Chad* Ati, a Negrito ethnic group in the Philippines* Ati-Atihan Festival, an annual celebration held in the Philippines* Ati, a queen of the fabled Land of Punt in Africa...
"Cypress" GPU from the Evergreen (GPU family) GPU series.
The Magny Cours and Lisbon server parts will be released in 2010. The Magny Cours part will come in 8 to 12 cores and the Lisbon part will come in 4 and 6 core parts. Magny Cours is focused on performance while the Lisbon part is focused on high performance per watt. Magny Cours is an MCM (Multi-Chip Module
Multi-Chip Module
A multi-chip module is a specialized electronic package where multiple integrated circuits , semiconductor dies or other discrete components are packaged onto a unifying substrate, facilitating their use as a single component...
) with two hexa-core "Istanbul" Opteron
Opteron
Opteron is AMD's x86 server and workstation processor line, and was the first processor which supported the AMD64 instruction set architecture . It was released on April 22, 2003 with the SledgeHammer core and was intended to compete in the server and workstation markets, particularly in the same...
parts. This will use a new G34 socket for dual and quad socket processors and thus will be marketed as Opteron 61xx series processors. Lisbon uses C32 socket certified for dual socket use or single socket use only and thus will be marketed as Opteron 41xx processors. Both will be built on a 45 nm SOI process.
Fusion, Bobcat and Bulldozer
After the merger between AMD and ATI, an initiative codenamed FusionAMD Fusion
AMD Fusion is the marketing name for a series of APUs by AMD. There are two flavors of Fusion currently available, one with its CPU logic based on the Bobcat core and the other its CPU logic based on the 10h core. In both cases the GPU logic is HD6xxx, which itself is based on the mobile variant of...
was announced that will merge a CPU and GPU on some of their entry level chips, including a minimum 16 lane PCI Express
PCI Express
PCI Express , officially abbreviated as PCIe, is a computer expansion card standard designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X, and AGP bus standards...
link to accommodate external PCI Express peripherals, thereby eliminating the requirement of a northbridge
Northbridge (computing)
The northbridge has historically been one of the two chips in the core logic chipset on a PC motherboard, the other being the southbridge. Increasingly these functions have migrated to the CPU chip itself, beginning with memory and graphics controllers. For Intel Sandy Bridge and AMD Fusion...
chip completely from the motherboard. The initiative will see some of the processing originally done on the CPU (e.g. Floating Point Unit
Floating point unit
A floating-point unit is a part of a computer system specially designed to carry out operations on floating point numbers. Typical operations are addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and square root...
operations) moved to the GPU, which is better optimized for calculations such as Floating Point Unit calculations. This is referred to by AMD as an Accelerated Processing Unit (APU). AMD will move to a modular design methodology named "M-SPACE", where two new processor cores, codenamed "Bulldozer
Bulldozer (processor)
Bulldozer is the codename Advanced Micro Devices has given to one of the next-generation CPU cores after the K10 microarchitecture for the company's M-SPACE design methodology, with the core specifically aimed at 10-watt to 125-watt TDP computing products. Bulldozer is a completely new design...
" and "Bobcat
Bobcat (processor)
Bobcat is the latest x86 processor core from AMD aimed at low-power / low-cost market.It was revealed during a speech from AMD executive vice-president Henri Richard in Computex 2007 and was put into production Q1 2011. One of the major supporters was executive vice-president Mario A...
" will be released; Bulldozer is slated for the 2011 timeframe, whereas Bobcat is expected in Q4 2010.
While very little preliminary information exists even in AMD's Technology Analyst Day 2007, both cores are to be built from the ground up. The Bulldozer core focused on 10 watt to 100 watt products, with optimizations for performance-per-watt ratios and HPC applications and includes newly announced XOP
XOP instruction set
The XOP instruction set, announced by AMD on May 1, 2009, is an extension to the 128-bit SSE core instructions in the x86 and AMD64 instruction set for the Bulldozer processor core, which was released on October 12th, 2011....
, FMA4 and CVT16
CVT16 instruction set
The CVT16 instruction set, announced by AMD on May 1, 2009, is an extension to the 128-bit SSE core instructions in the x86 and AMD64 instruction set.CVT16 is a revision of part of the SSE5 instruction set proposal announced on August 30, 2007...
instructions, while the Bobcat core will focus on 1 watt to 10 watt products, given that the core is a simplified x86 core to reduce power draw. Both of the cores will be able to incorporate full DirectX compatible GPU core(s) under the Fusion label, or as standalone products as a general purpose CPU.
Llano is to be the second APU released, targeted at the mainstream market. This will incorporate a CPU and GPU on the same die, as well as the Northbridge
Chipset
A chipset, PC chipset, or chip set refers to a group of integrated circuits, or chips, that are designed to work together. They are usually marketed as a single product.- Computers :...
functions, and labeled on AMD's new timeline as using "Socket FM1
Socket FM1
Socket FM1 is a CPU socket used by AMD's A-series mainstream Fusion processors released in July 2011.- References :* http://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-llano-socket-fm1-sample,12549.html...
" with DDR3 memory. This will, however, not be based on the new bulldozer core and will in fact be similar to the current Phenom II
Phenom II
Phenom II is a family of AMD's multi-core 45 nm processors using the AMD K10 microarchitecture, succeeding the original Phenom. Advanced Micro Devices released the Socket AM2+ version of Phenom II in December 2008, while Socket AM3 versions with DDR3 support, along with an initial batch of...
"Deneb" processor serving as AMD's high-end processor until the release of the new 32 nm parts. On September 28, 2011, AMD said that the third quarter of 2011 won't have a 10% revenue increase as AMD planned before, because of the manufacturing problem with the 32nm Llano Fusion chips.
Bulldozer is revealed to be organized in modules, each consisting of two integer cores capable of processing integers and one floating point unit (FPU). Each module will be seen by the OS
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
as two cores and all of AMD's new 2011, 32 nm high-end desktop and server parts will be built on the Bulldozer microarchitecture
Bulldozer (processor)
Bulldozer is the codename Advanced Micro Devices has given to one of the next-generation CPU cores after the K10 microarchitecture for the company's M-SPACE design methodology, with the core specifically aimed at 10-watt to 125-watt TDP computing products. Bulldozer is a completely new design...
, including Zambezi and Orochi for the desktop and Interlagos and Valencia for the server market. AMD’s Bulldozer/Orochi core die size is 315mm^2.
On August 31, 2011, AMD's Bulldozer created a new world record for CPU speed of 8429.4MHz (the old record was 8308.9MHz).
On September 26, 2011, new Opteron central processing units (CPUs), AMD's first new micro-architecture in eight years, will be unveiled. According to AMD, these new microprocessors' performance is 35% higher than current Opteron chips.
Graphics products
After acquiring the graphics processor maker ATI TechnologiesATI Technologies
ATI Technologies Inc. was a semiconductor technology corporation based in Markham, Ontario, Canada, that specialized in the development of graphics processing units and chipsets. Founded in 1985 as Array Technologies Inc., the company was listed publicly in 1993 and was acquired by Advanced Micro...
in 2007, AMD restructured some of its combined product lines. Since 2010, all of the company's graphics processing products have been marketed under the AMD brand name.
The following are notable graphics processing product families and technologies by AMD:
- RadeonRadeonRadeon is a brand of graphics processing units and random access memory produced by Advanced Micro Devices , first launched in 2000 by ATI Technologies, which was acquired by AMD in 2006. Radeon is the successor to the Rage line. There are four different groups, which can be differentiated by...
is AMD's line of consumer 3D accelerator add-in cards. Mobility RadeonRadeonRadeon is a brand of graphics processing units and random access memory produced by Advanced Micro Devices , first launched in 2000 by ATI Technologies, which was acquired by AMD in 2006. Radeon is the successor to the Rage line. There are four different groups, which can be differentiated by...
is a series of power-optimized versions of Radeon graphics chips for use in laptops. They introduced innovations such as modularized RAM chips, DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
(MPEG2) acceleration, notebook GPU card sockets, and power management technology. AMD recently announced DirectX 11-compatible versions of its mobile processors. - FirePro is AMD's line of professional graphics processors for workstationWorkstationA workstation is a high-end microcomputer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by one person at a time, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems...
s. Based on the Radeon series, it succeeds the FireGL series of workstation CAD/CAM video cards, and the FireMV series for workstations with 2D acceleration. - FireStreamAMD FireStreamThe AMD FireStream is a stream processor produced by Advanced Micro Devices to utilize the stream processing/GPGPU concept for heavy floating-point computations to target various industries, such as the High Performance Computing , scientific, and financial sectors...
is a stream processorStream processingStream processing is a computer programming paradigm, related to SIMD , that allows some applications to more easily exploit a limited form of parallel processing...
designed to utilize the stream processing/GPGPUGPGPUGeneral-purpose computing on graphics processing units is the technique of using a GPU, which typically handles computation only for computer graphics, to perform computation in applications traditionally handled by the CPU...
(General Purpose Graphics Processing Units) concept for heavy floating-pointFloating pointIn computing, floating point describes a method of representing real numbers in a way that can support a wide range of values. Numbers are, in general, represented approximately to a fixed number of significant digits and scaled using an exponent. The base for the scaling is normally 2, 10 or 16...
computations to target various industries, such as the High Performance ComputingHigh-performance computingHigh-performance computing uses supercomputers and computer clusters to solve advanced computation problems. Today, computer systems approaching the teraflops-region are counted as HPC-computers.-Overview:...
(HPC), scientific, and financial sectors. The AMD FireStream can also be used as a floating-point co-processor for offloading CPU calculations, which is part of the TorrenzaTorrenzaTorrenza was an initiative announced by Advanced Micro Devices in 2006 to improve support for the integration of specialized coprocessors in systems based on AMD Opteron microprocessors...
initiative. - EyeFinity - Allows up to 6 monitors to be connected to one card to allow surround-screen panoramic view.
- EyeSpeed - Allows you to experience games with true-to-life actions-and reactions. Features such as physics effects, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and more.
AMD chipsets
Before the launch of Athlon 64Athlon 64
The Athlon 64 is an eighth-generation, AMD64-architecture microprocessor produced by AMD, released on September 23, 2003. It is the third processor to bear the name Athlon, and the immediate successor to the Athlon XP...
processors in 2003, AMD designed chipset
Chipset
A chipset, PC chipset, or chip set refers to a group of integrated circuits, or chips, that are designed to work together. They are usually marketed as a single product.- Computers :...
s for their processors spanning the K6
AMD K6
The K6 microprocessor was launched by AMD in 1997. The main advantage of this particular microprocessor is that it was designed to fit into existing desktop designs for Pentium branded CPUs. It was marketed as a product which could perform as well as its Intel Pentium II equivalent but at a...
and K7 processor generations. The chipsets include the AMD-640, AMD-751 and the AMD-761 chipsets. The situation changed in 2003 with the release of Athlon 64
Athlon 64
The Athlon 64 is an eighth-generation, AMD64-architecture microprocessor produced by AMD, released on September 23, 2003. It is the third processor to bear the name Athlon, and the immediate successor to the Athlon XP...
processors, and AMD chose not to further design its own chipsets for its desktop processors while opening the desktop platform to allow other firms to design chipsets. This is the "Open Platform Management Architecture
Open Platform Management Architecture
Open Platform Management Architecture is an open, royalty free standard for connecting a modular, platform hardware management subsystem to a computer motherboard. Platform hardware management generally refers to the remote monitoring of platform hardware variables such as fan speed, voltages,...
" with ATI
Ati
As a word, Ati may refer to:* Ati, a town in Chad* Ati, a Negrito ethnic group in the Philippines* Ati-Atihan Festival, an annual celebration held in the Philippines* Ati, a queen of the fabled Land of Punt in Africa...
, VIA
VIA Technologies
VIA Technologies is a Taiwanese manufacturer of integrated circuits, mainly motherboard chipsets, CPUs, and memory, and is part of the Formosa Plastics Group. It is the world's largest independent manufacturer of motherboard chipsets...
and SiS
Sis
- Places :* Sis * Sis, Armenia, a town* Sis, Azerbaijan, a village* Sis, Iran, a city* Kozan, Adana, Sis in Armenian* Mountains of Sis, a range of the Pre-Pyrenees- Other :...
developing their own chipset for Athlon 64
Athlon 64
The Athlon 64 is an eighth-generation, AMD64-architecture microprocessor produced by AMD, released on September 23, 2003. It is the third processor to bear the name Athlon, and the immediate successor to the Athlon XP...
processors and later Athlon 64 X2
Athlon 64 X2
The Athlon 64 X2 is the first dual-core desktop CPU designed by AMD. It was designed from scratch as native dual-core by using an already multi-CPU enabled Athlon 64, joining it with another functional core on one die, and connecting both via a shared dual-channel memory controller/north bridge and...
and Athlon 64 FX processors, including the Quad FX platform chipset from Nvidia.
The initiative went further with the release of Opteron
Opteron
Opteron is AMD's x86 server and workstation processor line, and was the first processor which supported the AMD64 instruction set architecture . It was released on April 22, 2003 with the SledgeHammer core and was intended to compete in the server and workstation markets, particularly in the same...
server processors as AMD stopped the design of server chipsets in 2004 after releasing the AMD-8111 chipset, and again opened the server platform for firms to develop chipsets for Opteron processors. As of today, Nvidia
NVIDIA
Nvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles...
and Broadcom
Broadcom
Broadcom Corporation is a fabless semiconductor company in the wireless and broadband communication business. The company is headquartered in Irvine, California, USA. Broadcom was founded by a professor-student pair Henry Samueli and Henry T. Nicholas III from the University of California, Los...
are the sole designing firms of server chipsets for Opteron processors.
As the company completed the acquisition of ATI Technologies in 2006, the firm gained the ATI design team for chipsets which previously designed the Radeon Xpress 200
Xpress 200
The Radeon Xpress 200 is a computer chipset released by ATI. The chipset supports AMD 64-bit processors as well as supporting Intel Pentium 4, Pentium D and Celeron processors...
and the Radeon Xpress 3200
Xpress 3200
The Xpress 3200 is a new revision of the Xpress 200 computer chipset released by ATI. The chipset supports AMD64 processors of the Socket 939 and also of the Socket AM2.-History of the Xpress 3200 chipset:...
chipsets. AMD then renamed the chipsets for AMD processors under AMD branding (for instance, the CrossFire Xpress 3200 chipset was renamed as AMD 580X CrossFire chipset). In February 2007, AMD announced the first AMD-branded chipset since 2004 with the release of the AMD 690G
AMD 690 chipset series
The AMD 690 chipset series is an integrated graphics chipset family which was developed and manufactured by AMD subsidiary ATI for both AMD and Intel platforms focusing on both desktop and mobile computing markets...
chipset (previously under the development codename RS690), targeted at mainstream IGP computing. It was the industry's first to implement a HDMI
HDMI
HDMI is a compact audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed digital data. It is a digital alternative to consumer analog standards, such as radio frequency coaxial cable, composite video, S-Video, SCART, component video, D-Terminal, or VGA...
1.2 port on motherboards, shipping for more than a million units. While ATI had aimed at releasing an Intel IGP chipset, the plan was scrapped and the inventories of Radeon Xpress 1250 (codenamed RS600, sold under ATI brand) was sold to two OEMs, Abit and ASRock. Although AMD states the firm will still produce Intel chipsets, Intel had not granted the license of FSB to ATI.
On November 15, 2007, AMD announced a new chipset series portfolio, the AMD 7-Series chipsets
AMD 700 chipset series
The AMD 700 chipset series is a set of chipsets designed by ATI for AMD Phenom processors to be sold under the AMD brand...
, covering from enthusiast multi-graphics segment to value IGP segment, to replace the AMD 480/570/580 chipsets and AMD 690 series chipsets
AMD 690 chipset series
The AMD 690 chipset series is an integrated graphics chipset family which was developed and manufactured by AMD subsidiary ATI for both AMD and Intel platforms focusing on both desktop and mobile computing markets...
, marking AMD's first enthusiast multi-graphics chipset. Discrete graphics chipsets were launched on November 15, 2007 as part of the codenamed Spider desktop platform, and IGP chipsets were launched at a later time in Spring 2008 as part of the codenamed Cartwheel platform.
AMD returned to the server chipsets market with the AMD 800S series server chipsets
AMD 800 chipset series
The AMD 800 chipset series is a set of chipsets developed by AMD, released in 2009. The chipset series was revealed in its presentation slides during the AMD Financial Analyst Day 2007 held on December 13, 2007...
. It includes support for up to six SATA 6.0 Gbit/s ports, the C6 power state, which is featured in Fusion
AMD Fusion
AMD Fusion is the marketing name for a series of APUs by AMD. There are two flavors of Fusion currently available, one with its CPU logic based on the Bobcat core and the other its CPU logic based on the 10h core. In both cases the GPU logic is HD6xxx, which itself is based on the mobile variant of...
processors and AHCI
Advanced Host Controller Interface
The Advanced Host Controller Interface is a technical standard defined by Intel that specifies the operation of Serial ATA host bus adapters in a non-implementation-specific manner....
1.2 with SATA FIS–based switching support. This is a chipset family supporting Phenom
Phenom (processor)
Phenom is the 64-bit AMD desktop processor line based on the K10 microarchitecture, in what AMD calls family 10h processors, sometimes incorrectly called "K10h". Triple-core versions belong to the Phenom 8000 series and quad cores to the AMD Phenom X4 9000 series...
processors and Quad FX enthusiast platform (890FX), IGP(890GX).
AMD Live!
As of 2007, AMD LIVE! was a platform marketing initiative focusing the consumer electronics segment, with an Active TV initiative for streaming Internet videos from web video services such as YouTube, into AMD Live! PC as well as connected digital TVs, together with a scheme for an ecosystem of certified peripherals for the ease of customers to identify peripherals for AMD Live! systems for digital home experience, called "AMD Live! Ready".AMD Quad FX platform
The AMD Quad FX platform, being an extreme enthusiast platform, allows two processors to connect through HyperTransportHyperTransport
HyperTransport , formerly known as Lightning Data Transport , is a technology for interconnection of computer processors. It is a bidirectional serial/parallel high-bandwidth, low-latency point-to-point link that was introduced on April 2, 2001...
, which is a similar setup to dual-processor (2P) servers, excluding the use of buffered memory/registered memory
Registered memory
Registered memory modules have a register between the DRAM modules and the system's memory controller. They place less electrical load on the memory controller and allow single systems to remain stable with more memory modules than they would have otherwise...
DIMM
DIMM
A DIMM or dual in-line memory module, comprises a series of dynamic random-access memory integrated circuits. These modules are mounted on a printed circuit board and designed for use in personal computers, workstations and servers...
modules, and a server motherboard, the current setup includes two Athlon 64 FX-70 series processors and a special motherboard. AMD pushed the platform for the surging demands for what AMD calls "megatasking" for true enthusiasts, the ability to do more tasks on a single system. The platform refreshes with the introduction of Phenom FX
AMD K10
The AMD Family 10h is a microprocessor microarchitecture by AMD. Though there were once reports that the K10 had been canceled, the first third-generation Opteron products for servers were launched on September 10, 2007, with the Phenom processors for desktops following and launching on November...
processors and the next-generation RD790 chipset, codenamed "FASN8".
Commercial platform
The first AMD server/workstation platform after ATI acquisition is scheduled to be released on 2009 timeframe. Codenamed Fiorano, AMD's first multi-processorSymmetric multiprocessing
In computing, symmetric multiprocessing involves a multiprocessor computer hardware architecture where two or more identical processors are connected to a single shared main memory and are controlled by a single OS instance. Most common multiprocessor systems today use an SMP architecture...
server platform after ATI acquisition consists of AMD SR5690 + SP5100 server chipsets
AMD 800 chipset series
The AMD 800 chipset series is a set of chipsets developed by AMD, released in 2009. The chipset series was revealed in its presentation slides during the AMD Financial Analyst Day 2007 held on December 13, 2007...
, supporting 45 nm, codenamed Shanghai Socket F+
Socket F+
Socket F+ is a CPU Socket for AMD server processors starting from the 45 nm generation of the K10 CPU family. It is the successor to Socket F...
processors and registered DDR2 memory. Future update include the Maranello
Maranello
Maranello is a town and comune in the region of Emilia-Romagna in Northern Italy, 18 km from Modena, with a population of 16,841 as of 2009. It is best known as the home of Ferrari S.p.A. and the Scuderia Ferrari Formula One racing team...
platform supporting 45 nm, codenamed Istanbul, Socket G34
Socket G34
Socket G34 is a CPU socket designed by AMD to support AMD's multi-chip module Opteron 6000-series server processors. G34 was launched on March 29, 2010, alongside the initial grouping of Opteron 6100 processors designed for it. Socket G34 supports four DDR3 SDRAM channels, two for each die in the...
processors with DDR3 memory. On single-processor platform, the codenamed Catalunya platform consists of codenamed Suzuka 45 nm quad-core processor with AMD SR5580 + SP5100 chipset
AMD 800 chipset series
The AMD 800 chipset series is a set of chipsets developed by AMD, released in 2009. The chipset series was revealed in its presentation slides during the AMD Financial Analyst Day 2007 held on December 13, 2007...
and DDR3 support.
AMD's x86 virtualization
X86 virtualization
In computing, x86 virtualization is the facility that allows multiple operating systems to simultaneously share x86 processor resources in a safe and efficient manner, a facility generically known as hardware virtualization...
extension to the 64-bit x86 architecture is named AMD Virtualization, also known by the abbreviation AMD-V, and is sometimes referred to by the code name "Pacifica". AMD processors using Socket AM2
Socket AM2
The Socket AM2, renamed from Socket M2 , is a CPU socket designed by AMD for desktop processors, including the performance, mainstream and value segments...
, Socket S1
Socket S1
Socket S1 is the CPU socket type used by AMD for their Turion 64, Athlon 64 Mobile and later Sempron processors, which debuted with the dual core Turion 64 X2 CPUs on May 17, 2006.-Technical specifications:...
, and Socket F
Socket F
Socket F is a CPU socket designed by AMD for its Opteron line of CPUs released on August 15, 2006. In 2010 Socket F was replaced by Socket C32 for entry-level servers and Socket G34 for high-end servers.-Technical specifications:...
include AMD Virtualization support. AMD Virtualization is also supported by release two (8200, 2200 and 1200 series) of the Opteron processors. The third generation (8300 and 2300 series) of Opteron
Opteron
Opteron is AMD's x86 server and workstation processor line, and was the first processor which supported the AMD64 instruction set architecture . It was released on April 22, 2003 with the SledgeHammer core and was intended to compete in the server and workstation markets, particularly in the same...
processors will see an update in virtualization technology, specifically the Rapid Virtualization Indexing (also known by the development name Nested Page Tables), alongside the Tagged TLB
Translation Lookaside Buffer
A translation lookaside buffer is a CPU cache that memory management hardware uses to improve virtual address translation speed. All current desktop and server processors use a TLB to map virtual and physical address spaces, and it is ubiquitous in any hardware which utilizes virtual memory.The...
and Device Exclusion Vector (DEV).
AMD also promotes the "AMD I/O Virtualization Technology" (also known as IOMMU
IOMMU
In computing, an input/output memory management unit is a memory management unit that connects a DMA-capable I/O bus to the main memory...
) for I/O virtualization. The AMD IOMMU specification has been updated to version 1.2. The specification describes the use of a HyperTransport
HyperTransport
HyperTransport , formerly known as Lightning Data Transport , is a technology for interconnection of computer processors. It is a bidirectional serial/parallel high-bandwidth, low-latency point-to-point link that was introduced on April 2, 2001...
architecture.
AMD's commercial initiatives include the following:
- AMD Trinity, provides support for virtualization, security and management. Key features include AMD-V technology, codenamed Presidio trusted computingTrusted ComputingTrusted Computing is a technology developed and promoted by the Trusted Computing Group. The term is taken from the field of trusted systems and has a specialized meaning. With Trusted Computing, the computer will consistently behave in expected ways, and those behaviors will be enforced by...
platform technology, I/O Virtualization and Open Management Partition. - AMD Raiden, future clients similar to the Jack PCJack PCJack PC is a thin client device that is approximately the size of a network wall port. Its design allows for one's monitor, keyboard & mouse to plug straight into the wall-mounted unit...
to be connected through network to a blade server for central management, to reduce client form factor sizes with AMD Trinity features. - TorrenzaTorrenzaTorrenza was an initiative announced by Advanced Micro Devices in 2006 to improve support for the integration of specialized coprocessors in systems based on AMD Opteron microprocessors...
, coprocessorCoprocessorA coprocessor is a computer processor used to supplement the functions of the primary processor . Operations performed by the coprocessor may be floating point arithmetic, graphics, signal processing, string processing, or encryption. By offloading processor-intensive tasks from the main processor,...
s support through interconnects such as HyperTransportHyperTransportHyperTransport , formerly known as Lightning Data Transport , is a technology for interconnection of computer processors. It is a bidirectional serial/parallel high-bandwidth, low-latency point-to-point link that was introduced on April 2, 2001...
, and PCI ExpressPCI ExpressPCI Express , officially abbreviated as PCIe, is a computer expansion card standard designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X, and AGP bus standards...
(though more focus was at HyperTransportHyperTransportHyperTransport , formerly known as Lightning Data Transport , is a technology for interconnection of computer processors. It is a bidirectional serial/parallel high-bandwidth, low-latency point-to-point link that was introduced on April 2, 2001...
enabled coprocessors), also opening processor socket architecture to other manufacturers, SunSun MicrosystemsSun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
and IBMIBMInternational Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
are among the supporting consortium, with rumoured POWER7POWER7POWER7 is a Power Architecture microprocessor released in 2010 that succeeded the POWER6. POWER7 was developed by IBM at several sites including IBM's Rochester, MN; Austin, TX; Essex Junction, Vermont; T. J. Watson Research Center, NY; Bromont, QC and Böblingen, Germany laboratories...
processors would be socket-compatible to future Opteron processors. The move made rival Intel respond with the opening of Front Side BusFront side busA front-side bus is a computer communication interface often used in computers during the 1990s and 2000s.It typically carries data between the central processing unit and a memory controller hub, known as the northbridge....
(FSB) architecture as well as GeneseoPCI ExpressPCI Express , officially abbreviated as PCIe, is a computer expansion card standard designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X, and AGP bus standards...
, a collaboration project with IBMIBMInternational Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
for coprocessors connected through PCI ExpressPCI ExpressPCI Express , officially abbreviated as PCIe, is a computer expansion card standard designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X, and AGP bus standards...
. - Various certified systems programs and platforms: AMD Commercial Stable Image Platform (CSIP), together with AMD Validated Server program, AMD True Server Solutions, AMD Thermally Tested Barebones Platforms and AMD Validated Server Program, providing certified systems for business from AMD.
Desktop platforms
Starting in 2007, AMD, following Intel, began using codenames for its desktop platforms such as SpiderAMD Spider
The AMD Spider platform consists of enthusiast level products from AMD, including AMD Phenom X4 9000 series processors, ATI Radeon HD 3800 series GPUs, and the AMD 7 series chipset.-See also:* AMD Dragon* AMD Leo* Phenom * Radeon R600...
or Dragon
AMD Dragon
AMD Dragon is a platform engineered for gamers, designed for use with the AMD Phenom II X4 processor family. The goal for the platform is to offer the user a powerful gaming system....
. The platforms, unlike Intel's approach, will refresh every year, putting focus on platform specialization. The platform includes components as AMD processors, chipsets, ATI graphics and other features, but continued to the open platform approach, and welcome components from other vendors such as VIA, SiS, and Nvidia, as well as wireless product vendors.
Updates to the platform includes the implementation of IOMMU
IOMMU
In computing, an input/output memory management unit is a memory management unit that connects a DMA-capable I/O bus to the main memory...
I/O Virtualization with 45 nm generation of processors, and the AMD 800 chipset series
AMD 800 chipset series
The AMD 800 chipset series is a set of chipsets developed by AMD, released in 2009. The chipset series was revealed in its presentation slides during the AMD Financial Analyst Day 2007 held on December 13, 2007...
in 2009.
Embedded systems
In February 2002, AMD acquired Alchemy Semiconductor for its AlchemyAlchemy (processor)
The Alchemy microprocessor is a low power processor family that uses MIPS architecture. The Alchemy family was used by AMD, Raza Microelectronics and Sun Microsystems in its embedded products such as Network processors....
line of MIPS
MIPS architecture
MIPS is a reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by MIPS Technologies . The early MIPS architectures were 32-bit, and later versions were 64-bit...
processors for the hand-held and portable media player
Portable media player
A portable media player or digital audio player, is a consumer electronics device that is capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, video, documents, etc. the data is typically stored on a hard drive, microdrive, or flash memory. In contrast, analog portable audio...
markets. On June 13, 2006, AMD officially announced that the line was to be transferred to Raza Microelectronics, Inc., a designer of MIPS processors for embedded applications.
In August 2003, AMD also purchased the Geode
Geode (processor)
Geode is a series of x86-compatible system-on-a-chip microprocessors and I/O companions produced by AMD, targeted at the embedded computing market....
business which was originally the Cyrix
Cyrix
Cyrix Corporation was a microprocessor developer that was founded in 1988 in Richardson, Texas as a specialist supplier of high-performance math coprocessors for 286 and 386 microprocessors. The company was founded by former Texas Instruments staff members and had a long but troubled relationship...
MediaGX
MediaGX
The MediaGX CPU was an x86 processor manufactured and designed by Cyrix and later after merger manufactured by National Semiconductor, and was introduced in 1997. The core is based on the integration of the Cyrix Cx5x86 CPU core with hardware to process video and audio output...
from National Semiconductor
National Semiconductor
National Semiconductor was an American semiconductor manufacturer, that specialized in analog devices and subsystems,formerly headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA. The products of National Semiconductor included power management circuits, display drivers, audio and operational amplifiers,...
to augment its existing line of embedded x86 processor products. During the second quarter of 2004, it launched new low-power Geode NX processors based on the K7 Thoroughbred architecture with speeds of fanless processors and , and processor with fan, of TDP
Thermal Design Power
The thermal design power , sometimes called thermal design point, refers to the maximum amount of power the cooling system in a computer is required to dissipate. For example, a laptop's CPU cooling system may be designed for a 20 watt TDP, which means that it can dissipate up to 20 watts of heat...
25 W
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
. This technology is used in a variety of embedded systems (Casino slot machines and customer kiosks for instance), several UMPC designs in Asia markets, as well as the OLPC XO-1 computer
OLPC XO-1
The XO-1, previously known as the $100 Laptop, Children's Machine, and 2B1, is an inexpensive subnotebook computer intended to be distributed to children in developing countries around the world, to provide them with access to knowledge, and opportunities to "explore, experiment and express...
, an inexpensive laptop computer intended to be distributed to children in developing countries around the world.
For the past couple of years AMD has been introducing 64-bit
X86-64
x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...
processors into its embedded product line starting with the AMD Opteron
Opteron
Opteron is AMD's x86 server and workstation processor line, and was the first processor which supported the AMD64 instruction set architecture . It was released on April 22, 2003 with the SledgeHammer core and was intended to compete in the server and workstation markets, particularly in the same...
processor. Leveraging the high throughput enabled through HyperTransport
HyperTransport
HyperTransport , formerly known as Lightning Data Transport , is a technology for interconnection of computer processors. It is a bidirectional serial/parallel high-bandwidth, low-latency point-to-point link that was introduced on April 2, 2001...
and the Direct Connect Architecture
Direct Connect Architecture
The Direct Connect Architecture is the I/O architecture of the Athlon 64 X2, Opteron, and Phenom microprocessors from AMD. It consists of the combination of three elements:...
these server class processors have been targeted at high end telecom and storage applications. In 2007 AMD added the AMD Athlon, AMD Turion and Mobile AMD Sempron processors to its embedded product line. Leveraging the same 64-bit
X86-64
x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...
instruction set and Direct Connect Architecture
Direct Connect Architecture
The Direct Connect Architecture is the I/O architecture of the Athlon 64 X2, Opteron, and Phenom microprocessors from AMD. It consists of the combination of three elements:...
as the AMD Opteron
Opteron
Opteron is AMD's x86 server and workstation processor line, and was the first processor which supported the AMD64 instruction set architecture . It was released on April 22, 2003 with the SledgeHammer core and was intended to compete in the server and workstation markets, particularly in the same...
but at lower power levels, these processors were well suited to a variety of traditional embedded applications. Throughout 2007 and into 2008 AMD has continued to add both single-core Mobile AMD Sempron and AMD Athlon processors and dual-core
Multi-core (computing)
A multi-core processor is a single computing component with two or more independent actual processors , which are the units that read and execute program instructions...
AMD Athlon X2 and AMD Turion processors to its embedded product line and now offers embedded 64-bit
X86-64
x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...
solutions starting with 8W TDP Mobile AMD Sempron and AMD Athlon processors for fan-less designs up to multi-processor systems leveraging multi-core AMD Opteron processors all supporting longer than standard availability.
In April 2007, AMD announced the release of the M690T integrated graphics chipset for embedded designs. This enabled AMD to offer complete processor and chipset solutions targeted at embedded applications requiring high performance 3D and video such as emerging digital signage, kiosk and Point of Sale applications. The M690T was followed by the M690E specifically for embedded applications which removed the TV output, which required Macrovision
Macrovision
Rovi Corporation is a globally operating, US-based company that provides guidance technology, entertainment data, copy protection, industry standard networking and media management technology for digital entertainment devices and services...
licensing for OEMs, and enabled native support for dual TMDS
Transition Minimized Differential Signaling
Transition-minimized differential signaling is a technology for transmitting high-speed serial data and is used by the DVI and HDMI video interfaces, as well as other digital communication interfaces....
outputs, enabling dual independent DVI
Digital Visual Interface
The Digital Visual Interface is a video interface standard covering the transmission of video between a source device and a display device. The DVI standard has achieved widespread acceptance in the PC industry, both in desktop PCs and monitors...
interfaces.
Flash technology
While less visible to the general public than its CPU business, AMD is also a global leader in flash memoryFlash memory
Flash memory is a non-volatile computer storage chip that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It was developed from EEPROM and must be erased in fairly large blocks before these can be rewritten with new data...
. In 1993, AMD established a 50-50 partnership with Fujitsu
Fujitsu
is a Japanese multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is the world's third-largest IT services provider measured by revenues....
called FASL, and merged into a new company called FASL LLC
Spansion
Spansion Inc. is a Flash memory chip maker that designs, develops and manufactures NOR flash memory products. The company has over 3,400 employees and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. Spansion is a former joint-venture between AMD and Fujitsu....
in 2003. The joint venture firm went public under ticker symbol SPSN in December 2005, with AMD shares drop to 37%.
AMD no longer directly participates in the Flash memory devices market now as AMD entered into a non-competition agreement, as of December 21, 2005, with Fujitsu and Spansion, pursuant to which it agreed not to directly or indirectly engage in a business that manufactures or supplies standalone semiconductor devices (including single chip, multiple chip or system devices) containing only Flash memory.
Mobile platforms
The Puma platform and Turion Ultra processors were released on June 4, 2008. Unlike the desktop AMD Phenom processors of the time, Puma's Turion Ultra processors were based on older Athlon 64 X2 (K8)
AMD K8
The AMD K8 is a computer processor microarchitecture designed by AMD as the successor to the AMD K7 microarchitecture. The K8 was the first implementation of the AMD64 64-bit extension to the x86 processor architecture.Processors based on the K8 core include:...
technology.
September 10, 2009 saw the release of the Tigris platform; The first AMD mobile platform to use processors based on the K10
AMD K10
The AMD Family 10h is a microprocessor microarchitecture by AMD. Though there were once reports that the K10 had been canceled, the first third-generation Opteron products for servers were launched on September 10, 2007, with the Phenom processors for desktops following and launching on November...
architecture, and first to use the new AMD Vision
AMD Vision
AMD Vision is a marketing term from AMD. The 'AMD Vision' branding segments personal computers and laptops which contain the company's Fusion APUs into four categories, with increasing capability, each aimed at a different target audience....
brand, categorizing laptop
Laptop
A laptop, also called a notebook, is a personal computer for mobile use. A laptop integrates most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a display, a keyboard, a pointing device and speakers into a single unit...
computers into four categories, based on performance.
The Danube platform was released on March 12, 2010, introducing quad-core processors and DDR3 support.
The Fusion
AMD Fusion
AMD Fusion is the marketing name for a series of APUs by AMD. There are two flavors of Fusion currently available, one with its CPU logic based on the Bobcat core and the other its CPU logic based on the 10h core. In both cases the GPU logic is HD6xxx, which itself is based on the mobile variant of...
based Sabine platform was released in June 2011, utilizing up to four K10.5
AMD K10
The AMD Family 10h is a microprocessor microarchitecture by AMD. Though there were once reports that the K10 had been canceled, the first third-generation Opteron products for servers were launched on September 10, 2007, with the Phenom processors for desktops following and launching on November...
based Stars cores, manufactured on the 32 nm SOI process.
Other initiatives
- 50x15, digital inclusion, with targeted 50% of world population to be connected through Internet via affordable computers by the year of 2015.
- The Green GridThe Green GridThe Green Grid is a non-profit, open industry consortium of end-users, policy-makers, technology providers, facility architects, and utility companies collaborating to improve the resource efficiency of data centers and business computing ecosystems...
, founded by AMD together with other founders, such as IBMIBMInternational Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
, SunSun MicrosystemsSun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
and MicrosoftMicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, to seek lower power consumption for grids.
- Codenamed SIMFIRE interoperability testing tool for the Desktop and mobile Architecture for System Hardware (DASH) open architecture.
Software
- Extensions for software parallelism (xSP), aimed at speeding up programs to enable multi-threaded and multi-core processing, announced in Technology Analyst Day 2007. One of the initiatives being discussed since August 2007 is the Light Weight Profiling (LWP), providing internal hardware monitor with runtimes, to observe information about executing process and help the re-design of software to be optimized with multi-core and even multi-threaded programs. Another one is the extension of Streaming SIMD Extension (SSE) instruction set, the SSE5SSE5The SSE5 was an instruction set extension proposed by AMD on August 30, 2007 as a supplement to the 128-bit SSE core instructions in the AMD64 architecture....
.
- AMD contributes to open sourceOpen sourceThe term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
projects, including working with Sun MicrosystemsSun MicrosystemsSun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
to enhance OpenSolarisOpenSolarisOpenSolaris was an open source computer operating system based on Solaris created by Sun Microsystems. It was also the name of the project initiated by Sun to build a developer and user community around the software...
and Sun xVMSun xVMSun xVM is a product group from Sun Microsystems that addresses virtualization technology on x86 platforms.-History:Sun originally announced the xVM product family in October 2007 as a broader product line...
on the AMD platform. AMD also maintains its own Open64Open64Open64 is an open source, optimizing compiler for the Itanium and x86-64 microprocessor architectures. It derives from the SGI compilers for the MIPS R10000 processor, called MIPSPro. It was initially released in 2000 as GNU GPL software under the name Pro64. The following year, University of...
compiler distribution and contributes its changes back to the community.
- In 2008, AMD released the low-level programming specifications for its GPUs, and works with the X.Org FoundationX.Org FoundationThe X.Org Foundation is the organization holding the stewardship for the development of the X Window System. It was founded on 22 January 2004....
to develop drivers for AMD graphics cards.
- AMD has also taken an active part in developing coreboot, and open source projects aimed at replacing the proprietary BIOS firmware.
- Other AMD open source projects include the AMD Performance LibraryAMD Performance LibraryFramewave is a high-performance optimized library consisting of low level APIs for image processing, signal processing, JPEG and video functionality. These APIs are programmed with task level parallelization and instruction level parallelism resulting in maximum performance on AMD multi-core...
and the AMD Core Math LibraryAMD Core Math LibraryAMD Core Math Library is a software development library released by AMD. This library provides useful mathematical routines optimized for AMD processors....
.
Production and fabrication
Ever since the spinoff of AMD's fabrication plants in early 2009, GlobalFoundriesGLOBALFOUNDRIES
GlobalFoundries Inc. is the world's third largest independent semiconductor foundry, with its headquarters located in Milpitas, California. GlobalFoundries was created by the divestiture of the manufacturing side of AMD on March 2, 2009, and was expanded through its merger with Chartered...
has been responsible for producing AMD's processors.
GlobalFoundries
GLOBALFOUNDRIES
GlobalFoundries Inc. is the world's third largest independent semiconductor foundry, with its headquarters located in Milpitas, California. GlobalFoundries was created by the divestiture of the manufacturing side of AMD on March 2, 2009, and was expanded through its merger with Chartered...
' main microprocessor manufacturing facilities are located in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, Germany. Additionally, highly integrated microprocessors are manufactured in Taiwan made by third-party manufacturers under strict license from AMD. Between 2003 and 2005, they constructed a second manufacturing plant ( 90 nm process SOI
Silicon on insulator
Silicon on insulator technology refers to the use of a layered silicon-insulator-silicon substrate in place of conventional silicon substrates in semiconductor manufacturing, especially microelectronics, to reduce parasitic device capacitance and thereby improving performance...
) in the same complex in order to increase the number of chips they can produce, thus becoming more competitive with Intel. The new plant has been named "Fab 36", in recognition of AMD's 36 years of operation, and reached full production in mid-2007. Fab 36 has been renamed to Fab 1 during the spinoff of AMD's manufacturing business during the creation of GlobalFoundries
GLOBALFOUNDRIES
GlobalFoundries Inc. is the world's third largest independent semiconductor foundry, with its headquarters located in Milpitas, California. GlobalFoundries was created by the divestiture of the manufacturing side of AMD on March 2, 2009, and was expanded through its merger with Chartered...
. In July 2007, AMD announced that they completed the conversion of Fab 1 Module 1 from to 65 nm. They then shifted their focus to the 45 nm conversion.
Partnerships
AMD utilizes strategic industry partnerships to further its business interests as well as to tackle Intel's dominance and resources.A partnership between AMD and Alpha Processor Inc. developed HyperTransport
HyperTransport
HyperTransport , formerly known as Lightning Data Transport , is a technology for interconnection of computer processors. It is a bidirectional serial/parallel high-bandwidth, low-latency point-to-point link that was introduced on April 2, 2001...
, a point-to-point interconnect standard which was turned over to an industry standards body for finalization. It is now used in modern AMD processor compatible motherboards.
AMD also formed a strategic partnership with IBM, under which AMD gained silicon on insulator
Silicon on insulator
Silicon on insulator technology refers to the use of a layered silicon-insulator-silicon substrate in place of conventional silicon substrates in semiconductor manufacturing, especially microelectronics, to reduce parasitic device capacitance and thereby improving performance...
(SOI) manufacturing technology, and detailed advice on 90 nm implementation, the partnership was announced by AMD to be extended to 2011 for 32 nm and 22 nm fabrication related technologies. Further, AMD is loosely partnered with end-user companies such as HP
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
, Compaq
Compaq
Compaq Computer Corporation is a personal computer company founded in 1982. Once the largest supplier of personal computing systems in the world, Compaq existed as an independent corporation until 2002, when it was acquired for US$25 billion by Hewlett-Packard....
, ASUS
ASUS
ASUSTeK Computer Incorporated is a multinational computer technology and consumer electronics product manufacturer headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. Its product range includes motherboards, desktops, laptops, monitors, tablet PCs, servers and mobile phones...
, Alienware
Alienware
Alienware is an American computer hardware subsidary of Dell, Inc. It mainly assembles third party components into desktops and laptops with custom enclosures for high-performance gaming. These products also support graphically intense applications such as video editing, simulation, and audio editing...
, Acer
Acer (company)
Acer Incorporated is a multinational information technology and electronics corporation headquartered in Xizhi, New Taipei City, Taiwan. Acer's products include desktop and laptop PCs, tablet computers, servers, storage devices, displays, smartphones and peripherals...
, Evesham Technology
Evesham Technology
Evesham Technology was a computer manufacturing and retail company based in Evesham, Worcestershire, England. It began operations in 1983 and closed in 2008 following financial difficulties. It was a significant contributor to the United Kingdom's domestic computer and digital television market...
, Dell
Dell
Dell, Inc. is an American multinational information technology corporation based in 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services. Bearing the name of its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest...
and several others to facilitate processor distribution and sales.
On May 18, 2006, Dell announced that it would roll out new servers based on AMD's Opteron chips by years end, thus ending an exclusive relationship with Intel. Dell also began offering AMD Athlon X2 chips in their desktop line-up in September 2006.
AMD is also a sponsor of the Scuderia Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari is the racing team division of the Ferrari automobile marque. The team currently only races in Formula One but has competed in numerous classes of motorsport since its formation in 1929, including sportscar racing....
Marlboro F1 Team since 2002 and the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team
Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team was a United States-based professional road bicycle racing team. It was the continuation of the 2004 U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team. Lance Armstrong, seven-time Tour de France winner, was its leader until July 2005...
since 2004, in 2009 AMD also became the jersey sponsor of the USL
United Soccer Leagues
The United Soccer Leagues is the organizer of several soccer leagues with teams in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. It includes men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Leagues currently organized are the USL Pro, the USL Premier Development League, the W-League, and...
expansion team Austin Aztex FC.
In June 2011, HP announced new business and consumer notebooks equipped with the latest versions of AMD APUs – accelerated processing units. AMD will power HP's Intel-based business notebooks as well.
Litigation with Intel
AMD has a long history of litigation with former partner and x86 creator IntelIntel Corporation
Intel Corporation is an American multinational semiconductor chip maker corporation headquartered in Santa Clara, California, United States and the world's largest semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue. It is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most...
.
- In 1986 Intel broke an agreement it had with AMD to allow them to produce Intel's micro-chips for IBMIBMInternational Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
; AMD filed for arbitrationArbitrationArbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution , is a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, where the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons , by whose decision they agree to be bound...
in 1987 and the arbitrator decided in AMD's favor in 1992. Intel disputed this, and the case ended up in the Supreme Court of CaliforniaSupreme Court of CaliforniaThe Supreme Court of California is the highest state court in California. It is headquartered in San Francisco and regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacramento. Its decisions are binding on all other California state courts.-Composition:...
. In 1994, that court upheld the arbitrator's decision and awarded damages for breach of contract. - In 1990, Intel brought a copyright infringement action alleging illegal use of its 287 microcode. The case ended in 1994 with a jury finding for AMD and its right to use Intel's microcode in its microprocessors through the 486 generation.
- In 1997, Intel filed suit against AMD and CyrixCyrixCyrix Corporation was a microprocessor developer that was founded in 1988 in Richardson, Texas as a specialist supplier of high-performance math coprocessors for 286 and 386 microprocessors. The company was founded by former Texas Instruments staff members and had a long but troubled relationship...
Corp. for misuse of the term MMX. AMD and Intel settled, with AMD acknowledging MMX as a trademark owned by Intel, and with Intel granting AMD rights to market the AMD K6 MMX processor. - In 2005, following an investigation, the Japan Federal Trade Commission found Intel guilty on a number of violations. On June 27, 2005, AMD won an antitrust suit against Intel in Japan, and on the same day, AMD filed a broad antitrust complaint against Intel in the U.S. Federal District Court in DelawareDelawareDelaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
. The complaint alleges systematic use of secret rebates, special discounts, threats, and other means used by Intel to lock AMD processors out of the global market. Since the start of this action, the court has issued subpoenaSubpoenaA subpoena is a writ by a government agency, most often a court, that has authority to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of subpoena:...
s to major computer manufacturers including Acer, DellDellDell, Inc. is an American multinational information technology corporation based in 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services. Bearing the name of its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest...
, Lenovo, HPHewlett-PackardHewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
and ToshibaToshibais a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
. - In November 2009, Intel agreed to pay AMD $1.25bn and renew a five-year patent cross-licensing agreement as part of a deal to settle all outstanding legal disputes between them.
Events and publications
Although AMD frequently refuses to provide information about upcoming products and plans, it does hold annual Analyst Days to reveal and explain key future technologies, and to present official technology roadmapTechnology roadmap
A technology roadmap is a plan that matches short-term and long-term goals with specific technology solutions to help meet those goals. It is a plan that applies to a new product or process, or to an emerging technology. Developing a roadmap has three major uses...
s. The event held in mid-year is referred to as "Technology Analyst Day", with its main focus on upcoming technologies and trends. The end-of-year event is referred to as "Financial Analyst Day" and focuses on the financial performance of the company through the previous year.
In addition to these events, AMD also publishes printed media. Publications include the AMD Accelerate and the discontinued AMDEdge. The AMD Accelerate magazine, originally published through Ziff Davis Media
Ziff Davis
Ziff Davis Inc. is an American publisher and Internet company. It was founded in 1927 in Chicago by William B. Ziff, Sr. and Bernard G. Davis. Throughout most of its history, it was a publisher of hobbyist magazines, often ones devoted to expensive, advertiser-rich hobbies such as cars,...
, focuses on SME and business applications, while AMD Edge focused on overall technologies from AMD. Since Ziff Davis Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the AMD Accelerate magazine has been published through IDG. AMD also has electronic newsletter
Newsletter
A newsletter is a regularly distributed publication generally about one main topic that is of interest to its subscribers. Newspapers and leaflets are types of newsletters. Additionally, newsletters delivered electronically via email have gained rapid acceptance for the same reasons email in...
s to promote its server-oriented Opteron
Opteron
Opteron is AMD's x86 server and workstation processor line, and was the first processor which supported the AMD64 instruction set architecture . It was released on April 22, 2003 with the SledgeHammer core and was intended to compete in the server and workstation markets, particularly in the same...
processors and related business solutions.
Guinness World Record Achievement
In 2011, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. announced that it had achieved the Guinness World Record for the "Highest frequency of a computer processor." The company ran an 8-core FX-8150 processor at 8.429-GHz. The record was set on August 31, 2011 in Austin Texas. The previous record was 8.308-GHz with Intel Celeron 352 (one core).On November 1st, 2011, AMD's exact same microprocessor, the FX-8150 was used to break the record yet-again at a slightly higher 8.461GHz.