AMD'S Fusion Chips Rumored To Be Inside Upcoming Macs

The possibility of an AMD-Apple partnership emerged from a presentation given on Tuesday at AMD's 2010 Financial Analyst Day. Emilio Ghilardi, senior vice president and chief sales officer, showed a slide during the session showing two iMac all-in-one systems and a Mac Pro under the Apple logo, alongside AMD's Fusion branding, according to Fudzilla.

Ghilardi flipped through several slides during the session and did not pause to give further details on the images, Fudzilla noted.

AMD isn’t commenting on the report. "As a matter of policy, AMD does not comment on speculations or rumors," a spokesperson for the company told CRN.

AMD did point out, however, that Apple added several GPUs from AMD'S Radeon 4000 and 5000 series to iMac and Mac Pro notebooks back in August. If the slide from Tuesday's presentation does include those Apple machines, AMD's APUs, which combine CPU and GPU capability on a single die, will likely appear in future versions.

Apple's move toward AMD could further embitter leading chip maker and AMD rival Intel. Intel's CPUS have powered Apple computers since Apple switched from PowerPC processors to Intel's x8 architecture in 2005. In January, Apple began manufacturing its own ARM-based A4 processor, which now powers the iPad, the iPod touch, and the iPhone 4.

Shortly after Intel acquired Infineon's Wireless Unit in August, rumors surfaced that Apple would switch from Infineon, whose chips are featured in the iPhone, to wireless chip supplier Qualcomm for its iPhone 5.

In September, Apple replaced Intel's processor inside the Apple TV with theA4 chip.

Intel has since said it was preparing the Atom-based Oak Trail platforms for tablet devices scheduled to appear in 2011. Apple's iPad currently commands over 90 percent of the overall tablet market, according to research firm Gartner.