AMD's Turion to tour notebook market

SAN FRANCISCO: AMD Inc. has introduced its Turion brand of notebook computer chips, a name it hopes will evoke the open road as the company aims to make headway in a market where it lags.

AMD has only about nine percent of the market for notebook microprocessors, a business increasingly dominated by rival Intel Corp., which later this month is expected to introduce the second-generation of its mobile product, a collection of chips that it calls Centrino Mobile Technology.

The AMD Turion 64 Mobile Technology is aimed at "thin and light" notebooks, and Sunnyvale, California AMD will continue to sell Mobile AMD Athlon 64 for full-sized notebooks.

Webster's says 'turion' means a young shoot, like asparagus, but AMD heard a resemblance to "tour" and an evocation of the open road. The company said it considered the dictionary definition too rare to hinder the chip's prospects.

Computers based on Turion will be available by mid-year, the company said. Further details, such as price and speeds, have not been released.

Intel's Centrino chip sets are currently the preferred technology for smaller notebooks.

"Today our strength is in the full-sized notebook, or desktop-replacement, space," said AMD mobile marketing manager Bahr Mahoney. "This product is optimized for mobility."

Portable computing, requiring long battery life and light-weight components, is the fastest growing segment of the personal computer market.