芯片霸主宁有种乎？AMD受够Intel的欺压了

不久前，超微(AMD)提出了结盟芯片界同业共同成立“异构系统架构”组织(Heterogeneous System Architecture, HSA)的大胆举动，并宣布将在其APU中添加 ARM Cortex A5 处理器 (用于提升安全能力)，种种措施，都说明了这家处理器供货商对于常年屈居于英特尔(Intel)之下似乎已感到厌倦，而现在，藉由全新的策略，AMD可望焕然一新。 AMD公司正在积极建立一个以 HSA 组织为中心的崭新生态系统，旨在提高使用其 APU 的应用数量，以推推动异构运算成为开发社群中的主流。 “我们将公司的未来押注在异构运算上，”AMD全球业务部资深总裁兼总经理Lisa Su表示。“我们相信，我们可以改变世界，而这将是运算领域的未来。” AMD资深副总裁兼首席技术官Mark Papermaste则指出，AMD崭新的策略，将使其能以更加灵活的方式提供IP，为客户带来更多价值。 自 2011年推出首颗APU以来，AMD称目前该公司已售出了约4,000万颗的APU。Su表示，在全球12家一线OEM业者中，就有11家正在出货内含 APU的平台。然而，目前要推动异构运算仍然有难度。AMD估计，大约有十万名开发人员拥有开发平行运算软件所需的技巧和经验，这些开发人员必须熟悉多种 语言和许多种不同版本的程序。而这些开发者相当稀有，有时候他们会被称为“忍者”，Adobe Systems公司资深副总裁暨首席架构师Tom Milloy说。 AMD的目标就是是增加“忍者”的数量──或更准确点来说，是集结大家的努力来减少异构运算编程的复杂性。

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据 Su表示，AMD希望透过HSA基金会让APU成为易于编程的主流CPU，增加开发人员可以使用的产品选项。但她也指出，主要瓶颈都集中在软件部份，而目 前包括德州仪器(TI)、ARM、联发科(MediaTek)和 Imagination Technology等HSA 的成员都致力于解决这个问题。AMD的愿景始于去年，当时该公司迈出了大胆的第一步──采取开放架构，以推动建立开放原始码API，这使得AMD和其它晶片厂商得以开始提供专有硬件。AMD表示，HSA成员公司都将开始建立开发工具、软件开发工具包、库、文件等。 “在我们推动业界建构出一个开放的生态系统以前，我们希望明确地定义标准，”Su说。 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 本文下一页：都是英特尔逼的？

相关阅读：
• AMD首席技术官：开放标准终将获得胜利
• AMD与ARM终成盟友，异构系统架构基金会问世
• AMD新款APU中将整合ARM Cortex-A5核心NH7esmc

{pagination} 大胆的转变 AMD的想法可说是大刀阔斧的转变。这家公司过去一直因为缺乏决断力和明确的发展方向而饱受批评。 “对我来说，这是令人印象最深刻的事情，”Tirias Research公司创办人兼首席分析师Jim McGregor说。据AMD的说法：这就是我们想走的方向，也是我们想要建立的目标。 Insight64 首席分析师Nathan Brookwood也对多家重量级公司参与HSA的举动给予高度肯定。Brookwood表示，AMD的异构运算构想始于该公司在2006年收购ATI Technologies公司，这是AMD目前应用在APU中的最主要绘图技术。 “AMD的地位一直不断遭受侵蚀，”Brookwood说。“但若HSA可以将所有参与公司紧密结合，这对AMD和整个产业都有益处。 AMD表示，作为HSA基金会的创始合伙人仅仅是个开端。该公司暗示道，在未来的几个月内，还希望进一步推动该基金会的发展，寻求更多硬件厂商的支持，最终并希望软件公司、学术机构和软件开发商等业者加入。 当然，AMD并不是唯一一家将绘图和处理器整合在同一芯片上的公司。AMD的克星──英特尔也做得到这一点。但Su指出，英特尔的行销主要是透过强力微缩CMOS节点，让他们能比竞争者更快地推动新技术。而现在没有生产线的AMD根本追不上他们的脚步。 据苏表示，透过采用新技术节点可以改善微处理器技术，但从根本上改变计算机编程模型，将可提供更大的降压优势。 “我们正在努力改变运算方式，”Su说。她接着表示，“CMOS微缩不会永远持续。” Su进一步指出，多年来AMD的心态都是接受身为处理器市场第二把交椅的地位。“但现在起情况已经不同了。” AMD 有很充份的理由，让他们努力改变长期以来与英特尔在市场上的对峙情况。多年来，英特尔一直以80%~85%的市占率大幅超越竞争对手。但市场状态正在改变，新的Windows 8开始支持ARM处理器，而英特尔与AMD也积极寻求在ARM主导的移动领域扩展市场的可能性。 “AMD仍将继续为PC、服务器提供x86产品，在这方面他们还无法与英特尔抗衡，”Brookwood说。“然而，他们正在展开一个与过去截然不同的策略。” 编译： Joy Teng 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 本文下一页：参考英文原文：AMD's new mojo: Betting big and doubling down ，by Dylan McGrath

相关阅读：
• AMD首席技术官：开放标准终将获得胜利
• AMD与ARM终成盟友，异构系统架构基金会问世
• AMD新款APU中将整合ARM Cortex-A5核心NH7esmc

{pagination} AMD's new mojo: Betting big and doubling down Dylan McGrath Advanced Micro Devices Inc. displayed a new swagger at last week's AMD Fusion Developer Summit (AFDS) in Bellevue, Wash. Weary of trudging through life as perennial second fiddle to Intel Corp., AMD outlined a bold new direction and displayed flexibility that may not have seemed possible just a few years ago. Two major announcements—the formation of a foundation to develop and support its Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA) and a license deal to add an ARM Cortex A5 to handle security in future generations of its accelerated processing units—illustrated that it is in fact a new day at AMD. AMD is seeking to build an ecosystem around its open HSA to increase the number of developers using its APUs and profligate heterogeneous computing into the mainstream. "We have bet our company on heterogeneous computing," said Lisa Su, senior vice president and general manager of AMD's global business units. "We believe this from the core of who we are—that this is how we can change the world, that this is the future of computing." Not to be outdone in the gambling analogy department, Mark Papermaster, AMD's chief technology officer, later told attendees that the company was "doubling down" on its strategy to leverage its IP in flexible and more agile ways to deliver value to customers. Mark Papermaster, AMD senior vice president and chief technology officer, speaks at the AMD Fusion Developer Summit last week. AMD has already shipped some 40 million APUs since the first was released in early 2011. Su said 11 of the top 12 OEMs are currently shipping APU-based platform. But heterogeneous computing in its current form is difficult to program. AMD estimates there are perhaps 100,000 developers with the skills and experience required to develop applications for parallel computing, which requires multiple languages and separate versions of a program. These developers are such a rare breed that they are sometimes referred to as "ninjas," said Tom Milloy, senior vice president and chief architect at Adobe Systems Inc., who delivered a keynote address at AFDS. AMD's goal is to increase the ranks of ninjas—or, more accurately, to decrease the complexity of heterogeneous computing programming to the point where one need not be thought of as something as grandiose as a ninja to do it well. According to Su, AMD, largely through the HSA Foundation, wants to make APUs as easy to program as mainstream CPUs, thus increasing the size of the pool of developers who can use them. The bottleneck, she said, is that this point mostly in software, something that the HSA Foundation—which thus far also includes Texas Instruments, ARM, MediaTek and Imagination Technology—aims to alleviate. AMD's vision, which began taking shape last year when the company took the bold step of opening up the architecture, is to drive the creation of open source APIs while at the same time enabling AMD and other chip vendors to offer proprietary hardware under the hood. AMD expects HSA member companies to bring to create developer tools, software developer kits, libraries, documentation, and more. "We want to be very clear on a standards front that we want to drive an open ecosystem," Su said. AMD's new mojo: Betting big and doubling down Dylan McGrath 6/18/2012 10:38 PM EDT A bold vision for change Credit AMD with articulating a bold vision for change. The company, which in the past has been criticized for lack of decisiveness and direction, has put its stake in the ground. "To me, that was the most impressive thing," said Jim McGregor, founder and principal analyst at Tirias Research. "Instead of just trying to be a player in the market, AMD is saying, 'This is the direction we are going in and this is what we are going to build.' " Nathan Brookwood, principal of Insight64, also applauded the formation of the HSA Foundation—and the participation of several significant firms. Brookwood said AMD's heterogeneous computing push has its roots in the company's 2006 acquisition of ATI Technologies Inc., which brought the company the graphics technology now found in APUs. "AMD's competitive position had eroded," Brookwood said. "If this [HSA] can put them on the map and cause them to become more relevant, good for AMD and good for the industry." Brookwood said he believes the participation of other firms in the HSA Foundation will cause developers to pay more attention to it. "I think it will cause developers to take it more seriously, both because of the size of the potential base of equipment [using HSA] and because it's no longer just an AMD dream but a shared vision." AMD made it clear that the founding partners of the HSA Foundation are just the beginning. The company hinted that it expects further momentum for the foundation in coming weeks and months, when more hardware vendors and, eventually, software firms, academic institutions and software developers are expected to join up. "It will grow from here like a pyramid," Papermaster said. Of course, AMD isn't the only company offering chips that combine both graphics and processors in the same integrated device. Intel, ever AMD's nemesis, has got that, too. But as Su noted, Intel makes its marketing hay primarily through brute force CMOS scaling, driving to new technology nodes much faster than its rivals. AMD, which is now fabless, simply cannot even attempt to keep pace. According to Su, pushing through new technology nodes yields incremental improvements in microprocessor technology. A fundamental change to the computer programming model offers far more bang for the buck, she said. "We are trying to change the way computing is done," Su said. Later, she added, "CMOS scaling is not going to continue forever." Su, who joined AMD earlier this year after four years at Freescale Semiconductor, stressed that AMD's mindset has changed under Rory Read, who took over as president and CEO of the company last year. For years, Su said, AMD's mindset had been that it was acceptable to be the No. 2 players in microprocessors. "That's not okay anymore," Su said. AMD has good reason to want to change the discussion from the old Intel versus AMD dynamic. Intel has held a dominant position over its smaller rival for many years, with market share typically of 80 to 85 percent. But the new direction also underscores a new competitive reality. With Windows 8, the first version of the OS to support ARM-based devices, and with both AMD and Intel seeking to expand their presence in the mobile world—where ARM's architecture dominates—the competitive landscape for AMD means more than just Intel. "As long as AMD is going to continue to offer x86 products for PCs and servers, there's no way they aren't going to compete with Intel," Brookwood said. "But they are taking a very different approach."