AMD to Introduce Netbook Chip in 2011

“Advanced Micro Devices plans to release a processor in its
“Fusion” line that will be positioned for the netbook market,
putting it in competition with the Intel Atom, and, to a lesser
degree, the ARM processor.

“The “Fusion” program is AMD’s (NYSE: AMD) long-term project to
integrate its CPU cores with graphics processor cores from ATI,
which it acquired in 2006. The first Fusion processors are expected
some time early next year. Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) has its own
integrated processors, the Westmere family of Core i5/i7 chips,
which feature integrated graphics in dual-core CPUs.

“AMD hasn’t yet hammered out all the specifics, but the netbook
part will run in the 10-15 watt range, which is similar to the
Intel Atom, and “it will have a good processor integrated with
graphics, so you won’t need the [Nvidia] Ion graphics to give it
half-decent performance,” according to Nigel Dessau, chief
marketing officer at AMD.”

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