AMD hints at tablet PC chip plans

Chief executive predicts AMD-powered devices in two years

AMD's president and chief executive has hinted that AMD chips could be available for the growing tablet market within two years.

Dirk Meyer told analysts on a conference call yesterday that he would not be surprised if the chip firm's original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customers took AMD components designed for netbooks and laptops and put them into tablets.

But Meyer added that AMD is holding back on research and development spending on the form factor.

"We will dedicate specific R&D energy towards the tablet market when the market's big enough to justify that investment," he said.

"When the market's big enough you can anticipate that we will show up with a differentiated offering that has great graphics and video."

Meyer also hinted that more details will be forthcoming at the company's financial analyst day on 9 November.

AMD was keen to talk up its netbook and laptop strategy, saying that the 2W to 3W of power that tablets usually draw is about half that of a fanless netbook, making its netbook components still relevant to near-term OEM tablet plans.

AMD has already announced a combined graphics and low-power processor aimed at the netbook market with the Ontario chip. The company claims that the CPU will draw less than 1W despite the integration of usually power-hungry GPU cores.

Ontario will help the company grow its still relatively minor share of the netbook market when launched next year, according to Meyer.

"A 13 to 14 per cent share in the notebook market is not particularly inspiring so, in terms of where our tablet ambitions lie, I would hope we would do better in both markets," he said.

Tony Lock, programme director at analyst firm Freeform Dynamics, agreed with AMD's decision to wait and see how the tablet market develops.

"I think it's perfectly sensible for AMD to pay more attention to laptops. In many regions, it's the only growth sector. And I don't see tablets cannibalising laptop sales, as they are often bought as a third or fourth device, not as a laptop replacement," he said.

"The new low-powered netbook chips will also meet the needs of OEMs for tablet development in the meantime. Intel and ARM are doing the same."

Lock added that all chipmakers will be shaping five- to six-year development cycles that are likely to include some kind of tablet design.