14 DAY TRIAL // End-users may know of the rumor that arose, a while ago, about AMD possibly starting to make ARM chips, and while subsequent statements seemed to debunk the implication, the idea seems to still be up in the air.
Advanced Micro Devices has been a maker of x86 processors for a long time, acting as pretty much the only real competition Intel has.
Then, not long ago, there was a rumor about how AMD was considering abandoning this architecture in favor of ARM designs.
Said rumor was subsequently squashed, since AMD has what is called an x86 everywhere strategy.
The Fusion technology is what the outfit is currently betting on and, since the CPU cores in those APUs (accelerated processing units) are x86 ones.
Nevertheless, it is now reported that there is still a chance for AMD to start making ARM chips, even if this doesn't necessarily mean a total drop of the other architecture.
Basically, if the market changes enough, the Sunnyvale, California-based IT player may reconsider its position, especially seeing as how its so-called vision, as far as heterogeneous multi-core computing goes, is quite similar to that of the other company.
“Clearly there’s common ground between AMD and ARM [in regards to] balanced computing and the GPU as the key platform pushing the [computing] experience forward, but not at the expense of battery life. [...] We are constantly looking at where the market is headed and evaluating what our customer requirements are,” said John Taylor, a spokesman for AMD.
Granted, at present, AMD is not trying to license ARM technologies and has an easier time of tuning x86 chips for low-power consumption than it would for boosting performance of the former type.
Still, the fact remains that, at the moment at least, ARM is the stronger presence on the mobile front.
"It is definitely a misconception to say that ARM has a definite advantage over x86 (in mobile). We believe the APU is basically a piece of silicon that redefines the game. [...] Clearly, x86 executed in the form of an APU has real opportunity and a future in more than one market," stated John Taylor in late April.