Could low-power Fusion CPUs be built on a 40-nm bulk process?
The last AMD roadmap we saw described Ontario, a 32-nm “accelerated processing unit” with two cores, 1MB of cache, support for DDR3 memory, and a built-in graphics processor. We haven’t heard much about this future product since then, but today, Fudzilla claims AMD now intends to build that product on a 40-nm bulk silicon process. Using that type of process might allow AMD to more easily integrate a GPU into the same die as the processor. However, since current AMD CPUs use silicon-on-insulator technology, a retooling of the processor design would also be in order. Fudzilla says that’s also on the menu. AMD will reportedly base Ontario on its next-generation Bobcat processor architecture, the low-power sidekick of Bulldozer. We first heard about Bobcat way back in July 2007; back then, AMD talked of a processor designed from the ground up for “mobile, ultra-mobile and consumer electronics” and tweaked to “scale as low as 1 watt.” Intel’s Atom CPU also fits that description—and as you m
