AMD Admits: APUs Will Kill Low-End Discrete Graphics Cards

From X-bit Labs: Advanced Micro Devices has admitted inevitable: the decease of the market of graphics processing units as a result of high-performance offered by accelerated processing units (APUs) with built-in graphics engines.

“In the long run, parts of [graphics cards] business will be cannibalized and the low-end discrete GPUs will be replaced with Fusion-type products. This is all goodness for us because it replaces low-cost margin revenue with high-gross margin revenue,” said Thomas Seifert, interim chief executive officer of AMD, during the most recent conference call with financial analysts.

Earlier AMD insisted that low-end graphics cards – such as the company’s Radeon HD 5400- and 6400-series – will continue to exist despite of performance increase of integrated graphics solution.

At the same time, AMD dramatically boosted performance of its inexpensive code-named Caicos graphics chip (Radeon HD 6400) compared to previous-generation Cedar GPU (Radeon HD 5400) so to make it competitive against its A-series accelerated processing units code-named Llano.

AMD needs inexpensive discrete GPUs so to offer an affordable upgrade option for systems that utilize Intel Corp.’s microprocessors with integrated graphics, such Core i-series “Sandy Bridge” microprocessors. At the same time, AMD needs to avoid competition between its APUs with integrated entry-level graphics engine and low-end discrete GPUs.

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