BANGALORE, INDIA: US chipmaker AMD today announced the launch of AMD fusion family of accelerated processing units (APUs), a single design – that combines the multi-core CPU (x86) technology with the powerful DirectX11-capable graphics and a parallel processing engine.

The new 'Fusion' processors incorporate a graphics card (GPU) and microprocessor (CPU) on a single chip, allowing computer-makers develop new form factors for devices.

“AMD Fusion marks third era of computing and can be considered as a biggest shift in PC technology after the launch of x86 processors,” said Ravi Swaminathan, managing director and regional vice-president, Sales and Marketing, AMD India.

“The concept of synergizing the CPU and GPU has been intriguing right from the start. APU designs enable an amazing experience in any form factor, and are designed to provide significant advantages in power and design simplicity over competing multi-chip solutions,” said, Manju Hegde, corporate vice president, Fusion Experience Program.

The APU comes in the following two versions based on performance and (low) power draw, namely E-series and C-series.

 E-Series is an 18-watt TDP APU codenamed “Zacate” for ultrathin, mainstream, and value notebooks as well as desktops while C-Series is a 9-watt APU codenamed “Ontario” for netbooks and small form factor desktops and devices. The APU series platform extends battery life up to 12 hours.

The company also mentioned that they have plan to launch A series APU codenamed Llano also known as the Big Brother in APUs in May. The built-in graphics circuit of Llano will be capable of 500 GFLOPS power.

Speaking to CIOL about the A series of APU, Manju said, “ A series APU processes 160 times faster than a supercomputer. The new processor oriented to desktops is expected in summer this year. With such a technology in our kit, we will define the industry standard in personal computing.” 

The company also said they have plans to launch 11 AMD Fusion-based systems in India in the first half of 2011 from manufacturers like Sony, HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus, MSI and Toshiba.

When asked about the AMD's plan about Fusion based systems , Ravi added that through Fusion, AMD is targeting the sweet spot for accelerated HD experiences across notebooks, desktops and HD netbooks.

The company said that they have planned for launch of new tablet with Acer which is scheduled for October. It has also planned to unveil new laptops in few weeks which would kick start from Taiwan.

The AMD fusion software partners include Adobe, Arcsoft, Microsoft, Nero, Corel, Divx, Motion PSP etc.