不久前，超微(AMD)提出了結(jié)盟芯片界同業(yè)共同成立“異構(gòu)系統(tǒng)架構(gòu)”組織(Heterogeneous System Architecture, HSA)的大膽舉動(dòng)，并宣布將在其APU中添加 ARM Cortex A5 處理器 (用于提升安全能力)，種種措施，都說(shuō)明了這家處理器供貨商對(duì)于常年屈居于英特爾(Intel)之下似乎已感到厭倦，而現(xiàn)在，藉由全新的策略，AMD可望煥然一新。 AMD公司正在積極建立一個(gè)以 HSA 組織為中心的嶄新生態(tài)系統(tǒng)，旨在提高使用其 APU 的應(yīng)用數(shù)量，以推推動(dòng)異構(gòu)運(yùn)算成為開(kāi)發(fā)社群中的主流。 “我們將公司的未來(lái)押注在異構(gòu)運(yùn)算上，”AMD全球業(yè)務(wù)部資深總裁兼總經(jīng)理Lisa Su表示?！拔覀兿嘈?，我們可以改變世界，而這將是運(yùn)算領(lǐng)域的未來(lái)?！? AMD資深副總裁兼首席技術(shù)官M(fèi)ark Papermaste則指出，AMD嶄新的策略，將使其能以更加靈活的方式提供IP，為客戶(hù)帶來(lái)更多價(jià)值。 自 2011年推出首顆APU以來(lái)，AMD稱(chēng)目前該公司已售出了約4,000萬(wàn)顆的APU。Su表示，在全球12家一線(xiàn)OEM業(yè)者中，就有11家正在出貨內(nèi)含 APU的平臺(tái)。然而，目前要推動(dòng)異構(gòu)運(yùn)算仍然有難度。AMD估計(jì)，大約有十萬(wàn)名開(kāi)發(fā)人員擁有開(kāi)發(fā)平行運(yùn)算軟件所需的技巧和經(jīng)驗(yàn)，這些開(kāi)發(fā)人員必須熟悉多種 語(yǔ)言和許多種不同版本的程序。而這些開(kāi)發(fā)者相當(dāng)稀有，有時(shí)候他們會(huì)被稱(chēng)為“忍者”，Adobe Systems公司資深副總裁暨首席架構(gòu)師Tom Milloy說(shuō)。 AMD的目標(biāo)就是是增加“忍者”的數(shù)量──或更準(zhǔn)確點(diǎn)來(lái)說(shuō)，是集結(jié)大家的努力來(lái)減少異構(gòu)運(yùn)算編程的復(fù)雜性。

EpBesmc

據(jù) Su表示，AMD希望透過(guò)HSA基金會(huì)讓APU成為易于編程的主流CPU，增加開(kāi)發(fā)人員可以使用的產(chǎn)品選項(xiàng)。但她也指出，主要瓶頸都集中在軟件部份，而目 前包括德州儀器(TI)、ARM、聯(lián)發(fā)科(MediaTek)和 Imagination Technology等HSA 的成員都致力于解決這個(gè)問(wèn)題。AMD的愿景始于去年，當(dāng)時(shí)該公司邁出了大膽的第一步──采取開(kāi)放架構(gòu)，以推動(dòng)建立開(kāi)放原始碼API，這使得AMD和其它晶片廠(chǎng)商得以開(kāi)始提供專(zhuān)有硬件。AMD表示，HSA成員公司都將開(kāi)始建立開(kāi)發(fā)工具、軟件開(kāi)發(fā)工具包、庫(kù)、文件等。 “在我們推動(dòng)業(yè)界建構(gòu)出一個(gè)開(kāi)放的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)以前，我們希望明確地定義標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，”Su說(shuō)。 本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 本文下一頁(yè)：都是英特爾逼的？

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• AMD首席技術(shù)官：開(kāi)放標(biāo)準(zhǔn)終將獲得勝利
• AMD與ARM終成盟友，異構(gòu)系統(tǒng)架構(gòu)基金會(huì)問(wèn)世
• AMD新款A(yù)PU中將整合ARM Cortex-A5核心EpBesmc

{pagination} 大膽的轉(zhuǎn)變 AMD的想法可說(shuō)是大刀闊斧的轉(zhuǎn)變。這家公司過(guò)去一直因?yàn)槿狈Q斷力和明確的發(fā)展方向而飽受批評(píng)。 “對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)，這是令人印象最深刻的事情，”Tirias Research公司創(chuàng)辦人兼首席分析師Jim McGregor說(shuō)。據(jù)AMD的說(shuō)法：這就是我們想走的方向，也是我們想要建立的目標(biāo)。 Insight64 首席分析師Nathan Brookwood也對(duì)多家重量級(jí)公司參與HSA的舉動(dòng)給予高度肯定。Brookwood表示，AMD的異構(gòu)運(yùn)算構(gòu)想始于該公司在2006年收購(gòu)ATI Technologies公司，這是AMD目前應(yīng)用在APU中的最主要繪圖技術(shù)。 “AMD的地位一直不斷遭受侵蝕，”Brookwood說(shuō)?！暗鬑SA可以將所有參與公司緊密結(jié)合，這對(duì)AMD和整個(gè)產(chǎn)業(yè)都有益處。 AMD表示，作為HSA基金會(huì)的創(chuàng)始合伙人僅僅是個(gè)開(kāi)端。該公司暗示道，在未來(lái)的幾個(gè)月內(nèi)，還希望進(jìn)一步推動(dòng)該基金會(huì)的發(fā)展，尋求更多硬件廠(chǎng)商的支持，最終并希望軟件公司、學(xué)術(shù)機(jī)構(gòu)和軟件開(kāi)發(fā)商等業(yè)者加入。 當(dāng)然，AMD并不是唯一一家將繪圖和處理器整合在同一芯片上的公司。AMD的克星──英特爾也做得到這一點(diǎn)。但Su指出，英特爾的行銷(xiāo)主要是透過(guò)強(qiáng)力微縮CMOS節(jié)點(diǎn)，讓他們能比競(jìng)爭(zhēng)者更快地推動(dòng)新技術(shù)。而現(xiàn)在沒(méi)有生產(chǎn)線(xiàn)的AMD根本追不上他們的腳步。 據(jù)蘇表示，透過(guò)采用新技術(shù)節(jié)點(diǎn)可以改善微處理器技術(shù)，但從根本上改變計(jì)算機(jī)編程模型，將可提供更大的降壓優(yōu)勢(shì)。 “我們正在努力改變運(yùn)算方式，”Su說(shuō)。她接著表示，“CMOS微縮不會(huì)永遠(yuǎn)持續(xù)?！? Su進(jìn)一步指出，多年來(lái)AMD的心態(tài)都是接受身為處理器市場(chǎng)第二把交椅的地位?！暗F(xiàn)在起情況已經(jīng)不同了。” AMD 有很充份的理由，讓他們努力改變長(zhǎng)期以來(lái)與英特爾在市場(chǎng)上的對(duì)峙情況。多年來(lái)，英特爾一直以80%~85%的市占率大幅超越競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手。但市場(chǎng)狀態(tài)正在改變，新的Windows 8開(kāi)始支持ARM處理器，而英特爾與AMD也積極尋求在ARM主導(dǎo)的移動(dòng)領(lǐng)域擴(kuò)展市場(chǎng)的可能性。 “AMD仍將繼續(xù)為PC、服務(wù)器提供x86產(chǎn)品，在這方面他們還無(wú)法與英特爾抗衡，”Brookwood說(shuō)?！叭欢麄冋谡归_(kāi)一個(gè)與過(guò)去截然不同的策略?！? 編譯： Joy Teng 本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 本文下一頁(yè)：參考英文原文：AMD's new mojo: Betting big and doubling down ，by Dylan McGrath

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• AMD首席技術(shù)官：開(kāi)放標(biāo)準(zhǔn)終將獲得勝利
• AMD與ARM終成盟友，異構(gòu)系統(tǒng)架構(gòu)基金會(huì)問(wèn)世
• AMD新款A(yù)PU中將整合ARM Cortex-A5核心EpBesmc

{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."