AMD IS LIKELY TO INTRODUCE NETBOOK CHIPS IN 2011

These netbook processors should be fusion based

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) reportedly reveals a plan to introduce netbook chips next year, which should be based on the company’s "Fusion" architecture, and will directly compete the likes of Intel Atom, NVidia Tegra, and the ARM processors – as reported by HardwareCentral.

Fusion is so called because of the architecture of this future-generation chip which will merge the AMD CPU and ATI GPU. ATI is the graphics division of AMD which it acquired back in 2006.

Although AMD hasn't given out much details, but this platform should consume about 10-15 watt power, similar to the Intel Atom, and the ATI part should give it a decent graphics boost, which is yet to be seen in an Atom. NVidia has been applying the same strategy for some time now with the ION and Tegra series of platforms. The ION integrates an Intel atom to an NVidia GPU.

"If we'd had a part, we'd have been in this space. We didn't have a part so we went and worked on a part for the thin and light space," Dessau told InternetNews.com. "The plan is to come to market next year with a Fusion part that fits in it nicely in a netbook type thing."

By netbooks, I mean the machines with 12-inch and smaller screens. Some current netbook-sized devices contain low-voltage (35 watts) AMD processors, but they are not mass produced yet and only for specific purposes.

AMD has entered 2010 with a much positive note, shrugging off the huge losses and legal tussles, and now looks to work on a multi-faceted strategy. Like the Centrino brand, AMD too plans to define a branding concept called AMD Vision. The Fusion is probably a big step towards this. A notebook branded with AMD Vision logo will have an AMD processor, chipset, and graphics chip. If there is lack in this combination, it can't be branded a "Vision" notebook.

 They are also planning to move away from the tech-speak of speeds and feeds and numbers to promote their products and rather give it a holistic category like See/Share/Create. Understandably, the “See” machine will be mainly for viewing things like a netbooks, a "share" system will be faster for uploading and downloading material, and the “Create” will have high powered configuration so that to run creative software and more.

The first Fusion processors are expected sometime early next year. Although the price is not known yet, these should be lot cheaper than that of Intel’s – it has always been.