AMD launched its first low-power processors based on ARM architecture in 2014. Those chips were designed for servers rather than consumer devices like tablets and notebooks. But if a product roadmap leaked at German site Planet3DNow is accurate, it looks like AMD is getting ready to launch its first ARM-based chips for mobile devices this year.
The roadmap also outlines plans for upcoming x86 chips for higher-performance mobile devices.
Earlier this year AMD announced that it’s “Carrizo” processors would ship in the first half of 2015. These are 28nm processors that offer up to 4 CPU cores, the latest AMD graphics, and consume between 15W and 35W of power.
The roadmap also says that lower-power “Carizzo-L” chips are on the way which will consume between 10W and 15W of power and use up to 4 “Puma+” CPU cores instead of the “Excavator” cores used by the more powerful chips.
And then there’s “Amur.” These 20nm chips use up to 4 ARM Cortex-A57 64-bit processor cores, feature AMD GCN (Graphics Core Next) graphics, and consume about 2 watts of power.
AMD describes Amur as an “ultra-low power” processor, which suggests it’s designed for tablets and other compact systems where you might not want a chip that consumers a lot of energy and produces a lot of heat. Maybe AMD has its own answer to the Intel Compute Stick in the works?
The Roadmap also looks ahead to 2016, when AMD plans to launch a series of 14nm processors:
- 15W – 35W “Bristol Ridge” processors with up to four “Zen” CPU cores
- 5W – 15W “Basilisk” processors with up to two “Zen” cores
- 2W “Styx” with up to two “K12” custom ARM-based processors
Each of the chips slated for launch in 2016 will feature next-gen GCN graphics.
via CPU World
I’m a bit of an AMD fanboy. I’ve always preferred them over Intel because I considered their chips to offer more bang for the buck. I will concede that they haven’t been doing well lately, in chip performance or corporate profit. I’m glad they’ve got a plan. I really hope it works well for them. I want to see them succeed. It would be great to see them have a presence in the smartphone/tablet market.
The thing is that the K12 core should be similar to the Zen core so it could be by far the biggest and fastest ARM core next year. They’ll have more than 2 cores in server but wish they would test the consumer side too with 4 cores chips.