AMD CEO, Dr. Lisa Su, sat down with journalists in a question and answer session after a speech at CES 2021 on Tuesday, answering a variety of questions, including a request to comment on the first foray of the Apple in the desktop processor space.
Speaking to the press via conference call, Su answered a series of questions about AMD’s future plans, the x86 platform and new developments in a highly competitive semiconductor market.
Dr. Ian Cutress from AnandTech focused on the emergence of ARM processor designs. According to Cutress, ARM models are expected to dramatically increase computing performance in the coming years and could begin to invade the territory held by x86 manufacturers like AMD and Intel. ARM silicon is typically used in specialized deployments, such as servers, but chip designs are now starting to appear in consumer products.
Apple, for example, introduced the M1 chip in its 13-inch MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and Mac mini models in late 2020. The tech giant plans its entire line of Mac computers to run on custom ARM chips within two years. This represents an immediate loss of revenue for the current Intel CPU partner, but it also creates obstacles for the broader x86 market.
Su was asked how the M1 will affect AMD’s relationship with Apple.
“M1 is more about how much processing and innovation there is on the market. This is an opportunity to innovate more, both in hardware and in software, and goes beyond ISA ”, said Su. “From our point of view, there is still innovation in the PC space – we have many options and people can use the same processors in many different environments. We hope to see more specialization as we move forward in the coming years, and it allows for more differentiation. Apple continues to work with us as its graphics partner, and we work with them. ”
Apple relies on AMD Radeon graphics cards to power next-generation devices like the MacBook Pro, iMac and Mac Pro, but that could change with a shift to internal solutions. M1 Macs integrate Tile Based Deferred Rendering (TBDR) graphics cores in a chip system design similar to the A series processors used on the iPhone and iPad.
While Apple is content to stick with integrated graphics for the initial wave of M1 Macs, it is possible that the company is working on a dedicated GPU to better serve high-performance machines.
Apple’s transition to ARM appears to be putting pressure on industry owners. On Monday, Intel detailed its next series of Alder Lake chips, which apparently takes a page from Apple’s Silicon strategy book by extending the phone’s use cases to the desktop.