AMD Fusion CPU/GPU chip coming in 2011

Fusion, the codename for the CPU/GPU integration at AMD, and the justification for buying ATI for $5.6B in the first place, will be product in 2011 says Rick Bergman (general manager of Products at AMD). The family of chips will be built using the 32nm (nanometer) manufacturing process to be used in all PC segments that span from Desktop to Netbooks.

AMD’s goal is to reduce cost (and possibly power usage) by removing the graphics that was once in a separate chip: a standalone GPU, or a motherboard chipset. Intel is moving towards the same idea, although with a different implementation. How this will help AMD against Intel’s dominance in integrated graphics is unknown: current Intel integrated graphics are already largely considered to be “free” or cost next to nothing to a buyer. That’s because Intel considers basic graphics to be an “enabler” for chipset and microprocessor sales.

However, AMD could raise the graphics bar for the entire AMD platform, if performance is good enough. On the functionality side, the company has said that DX11 will be supported.