AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su recently had a conversation with a group of journalists during a Q&A session after delivering a keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show. During the session, Su was asked a variety of questions pertaining to the operations of the global tech giant including its entry into the desktop processor space.
Su addressed the press through a conference hall and shared insights about AMD’s future plans, further development of the x86 platform, and their strategy for the semi-conductor market.
Dr. Ian Cutress from AnandTech spoke extensively about the growing prominence of ARM processor designs. According to Ian, ARM models will play an important role in providing a boost to the commute performance in the near future and could give serious competition to x86 manufacturers like Intel and AMD. ARM silicon is largely utilized in specialized areas like servers but some of the new-age chip designs can be found in consumer products.
Apple integrated the M1 chip in models like the 13-inch MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini, all of which were introduced towards the end of 2020. Apple is planning to figure out a way in which it can get standard ARM chips to run smoothly on Mac computers. It has set a target of two years to do the same. While this will result in Apple’s CPU partner Intel suffering from a loss, it will help the company establish itself in the x86 market in the long run.
Sharing more information about the M1 chips, Su stated that the technology used in the M1 chip is in sync with the rapidly changing technological ecosystem of the world we live in. He further stated that people can use one processor with different systems. He remarked that as technology becomes more specialized, there will be more differentiation in tech-based products.
Apple uses Radeon graphics cards by AMD to run devices like iMac, Mac Pro, and MacBook Pro. But, as Apple is in the process of developing in-house solutions, this is something that could change soon. Apple incorporates TBDR graphics on a system-on-chip design that resembles the A-series processors that are found in the iPad and iPhone.
Though Apple has decided to go with integrated graphics for the first set of M1 Macs, there is a possibility of the company developing a dedicated GPU that would work better with high-end machines.