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The AMD Accelerated Processing Unit (APU), formerly known as ''Fusion'', is a series of 64-bit microprocessors from AMD designed to act as a CPU and graphics accelerator (GPU) on a single chip. AMD announced the first generation APUs, ''Llano'' for high-performance and ''Brazos'' for low-power devices in January 2011. The second-generation ''Trinity'' for high-performance and ''Brazos-2'' for low-power devices were announced in June 2012. The third-generation ''Kaveri'' for high performance devices was launched in January 2014, while ''Kabini'' and ''Temash'' for low-power devices were announced in summer 2013. The Sony PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Xbox One eighth generation video game consoles both use semi-custom third-generation low-power APUs. Although it doesn't use the name "APU", Intel Corporation produces CPU-GPU combinations like its Ivy Bridge that are architecturally very similar. == History == The AMD Fusion project started in 2006 with the aim of developing a system on a chip that combined a CPU with a GPU on a single die. AMD took a key step toward realising such a vision when it acquired the graphics chipset manufacturer ATI〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The rise and fall of AMD: A company on the ropes )〕 in 2006. The project reportedly required three internal iterations of the Fusion concept to create a product deemed worthy of release.〔 Reasons contributing to the delay of the project include the technical difficulties of combining a CPU and GPU on the same die at a 45 nm process, and conflicting views on what the role of the CPU and GPU should be within the project. The first generation desktop and laptop APU, codenamed ''Llano'', was announced on January 4, 2011 at the 2011 CES show in Las Vegas and released shortly after.〔 It featured K10 CPU cores and a Radeon HD 6000-series GPU on the same die on the FM1 socket. An APU for low-power devices was announced as the ''Brazos'' platform, based on the Bobcat microarchitecture and a Radeon HD 6000-series GPU on the same die. At a conference in January 2012, corporate fellow Phil Rogers announced that AMD would re-brand the Fusion platform as the Heterogeneous Systems Architecture (HSA), stating that "it's only fitting that the name of this evolving architecture and platform be representative of the entire, technical community that is leading the way in this very important area of technology and programming development."〔(【引用サイトリンク】url= http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2012/01/19/amd-ditches-fusion-branding/1 )〕 However, it was later revealed that AMD had been the subject of a trademark infringement lawsuit by the Swiss company Arctic, who used the name "Fusion" for a line of power supplies.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url= http://www.bit-tech.net/news/bits/2012/01/23/amd-arctic-fusion-brand/1 )〕 The second generation desktop and laptop APU, codenamed ''Trinity'' was announced at AMD's Financial Analyst Day 2010 and released in October 2012. It featured Piledriver CPU cores and Radeon HD 7000 Series GPU cores on the FM2 socket.〔(Building an AMD 'Trinity' desktop PC )〕 AMD released a new APU based on the Piledriver microarchitecture on March 12, 2013 for Laptops/Mobile and on June 4, 2013 for desktops under the codename ''Richland''.〔(AMD launches "Richland" A-Series APUs: slight speed bump, better power management )〕 The second generation APU for low-power devices, ''Brazos 2.0'', used exactly the same APU chip, but ran at higher clock speed and rebranded the GPU as Radeon HD7000 series and used a new IO controller chip. Semi-custom chips were introduced in the Microsoft Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4 video games consoles. A third generation of the technology was released on 14 January 2014, featuring greater integration between the CPU and GPU. The desktop and laptop variant is codenamed ''Kaveri'', based on Steamroller architecture, while the low-power variants, codenamed ''Kabini'' and ''Temash'', are based on Jaguar architecture.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=AMD announces Temash, Kabini, Richland, and Kaveri APUs at CES 2013 (video) )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「AMD Accelerated Processing Unit」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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