Advanced Micro Devices is developing a low-power processor for mobile devices and sub-notebooks, the company confirmed Friday, quashing months of speculation that it had abandoned the project.
The chip will compete with Intel's Atom processor and potentially supplant AMD's low-power Geode x86 system-on-chip, which is included in One Laptop Per Child's XO laptop. Based on the x86 system-on-chip design acquired from National Semiconductor in 2003, Geode is also offered in thin clients and embedded equipment.
Intel is already working an Atom successor code-named Moorestown, due for release in 2009. The platform includes a system-on-chip code-named Lincroft, which is based on a 45-nanometer Silverthorne core, and puts a graphics, video and memory controller on a single chip.