AMD to release ‘Beema’ APU next week, chips already shipping

Advanced Micro Devices has started a countdown till the announcement of an important chip in three days from now. The company wants its customers to guess, what is going to be unveiled. Based on the image that AMD demonstrates, it is fairly easy to guess that it plans to reveal the code-named “Beema” accelerated processing unit.

On the countdown web-site AMD displayed a die shot of an unknown chip that looks very similar to the quad-core flavour of AMD's current-generation code-named “Kabini” accelerated processing unit designed for low-power/low-cost personal computers. Given the similarities with the aforementioned chip, it is logical to assume that AMD demonstrates a die shot of Kabini’s successor, the APU code-named “Beema”.

AMD “Beema” APU will feature two or four x86 cores based on the new Puma micro-architecture, Radeon graphics with GCN architecture, AMD security processor (based on ARM’s TrustZone architecture), a single-channel DDR3 memory controller and a number of special-purpose accelerators. The chip will have 10W – 25W thermal design power and will target low-cost/low-power laptops.

It is interesting to note that AMD has already started commercial shipments of the code-named “Beema” APU to notebook makers. This means that the company’s partners will ship Beema-based laptops already this quarter.

“We’ve started shipping Beema in the notebook segment,” said Lisa Su, senior vice president and general manager of global business units at AMD, during a conference call with financial analysts and investors.

Later on AMD plans to reveal its new accelerated processing unit code-named “Mullins”. The APU will be very similar to the “Beema”, but will only consume ~2W in typical conditions, which will allow its integration into media and business tablets. The “Mullins” is also expected to have up to four Puma cores (not in 2W thermal envelope, though).

Earlier AMD said that the upcoming “Beema” and “Mullins” accelerated processing units for various low-power devices will deliver twice the performance per watt compared to its previous offerings.

AMD did not comment on the news-story.

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KitGuru Says: It is interesting to note that typically AMD formally unveils its new products when it officially starts revenue shipments, or even a bit ahead of that. As a result, it takes announced products at least several weeks to reach the end-user. It will be interesting to see whether this time shipments of actual products to the market will coincide with AMD’s launch.

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