AMD Demos Its First Fusion APUs in Taiwan

After much anticipation, the public is finally getting an opportunity to see what an integrated graphics solution-on-a-chip can do.

AMD on Tuesday offered a demonstration of the AMD Fusion Accelerated Processing Unit (APU), a single chip with integrated GPU and CPU capability, code-named Llano.

The demonstration took place at the 6th Annual AMD Technical Forum and Exhibition in Taiwan. Sunnyvale, Ca.-based AMD showcased the Llano's capabilities by simultaneously running three separate "workloads" on Windows 7. The Llano was able to decode 1080p Blu-ray video, calculate Pi to the thirty-two millionth decimal place, and generate particle effects with the graphics capability of the chip rather than its central processor.

"The serial and powerful parallel processing capability of the Llano APU has the potential to make OEMs and consumers re-think their computing experience," said Chris Cloran, corporate vice president and general manager for AMD's client division, in a statement. "The experience potential of Llano is truly incredible, and the demos we showed today on stage provide a glimpse of what this processor is capable of delivering in sleek form factors with long battery life."

Llano is designed for traditional PCs, both notebooks and desktops, and will compete with Intel's corresponding single-chip solution, code named Sandy Bridge, which is due out next year.

Next: Details for Llano

AMD's Fusion processor will run as many as four cores along with a DirectX 11 graphics core for detailed imaging and fluid gaming on Windows 7, all of which is woven directly into the chip architecture.

The new design will run on 32nm hardware, unlike the 45nm designs of its current chips, in order to prevent overheating while maintaining competitive clock speeds.

Llano is due for release early next year.