AMD Infuses Corporate Brand with the Power of “Fusion”

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AMD (NYSE:AMD) today launched a new corporate brand campaign under a new tagline, “The Future is Fusion.” The campaign is intended to focus on how the unique AMD combination of technologies, coupled with close relationships with computer manufacturers and a deep understanding of customer needs, results in exciting next-generation capabilities and experiences at work, at home, and at play.

“Fusion is AMD’s way to express how we blend our customers’ needs, dreams and desires with our unique passion for enabling innovation,” said Nigel Dessau, AMD senior vice president and chief marketing officer. “While this unique approach has always been our practice, ‘Fusion’ is the most focused articulation yet of how AMD marries innovation with collaboration in ways that can yield benefits to the marketplace greater than the sum of its parts.”

The adoption of the “Fusion” brand and the accompanying global campaign, which is expected to run through the end of the year, are among several steps AMD is taking as part of a broader transformation designed to sharpen its focus around its core microprocessor and graphics technology businesses. AMD recently signed an agreement to sell its Digital TV business to Broadcom as part of its efforts to better focus resources on its core computing and graphics businesses.

The new company brand and the campaign were designed to address marketplace directions that AMD identified through internal research, and by working closely with its strategic customers and partners who depend on AMD’s microprocessors to offer choice to consumers worldwide.

“We anticipate that AMD’s new ‘Fusion’ campaign will spark new opportunities in the market,” said Michael Mendenhall, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Hewlett Packard. “For some time, we’ve enjoyed a successful collaborative relationship with AMD that’s helped our business offer differentiated solutions that address our customers’ most pressing challenges.”

At the heart of the campaign is the “Fusion” brand concept: a unique energy created by connecting AMD people and technology with those of its partners. Fusion is the AMD working philosophy that marries innovation with collaboration, and is the process by which AMD and its partners can enable next-generation technologies that change the way we live, work and play.

An example of ”Fusion” in the AMD product roadmap is its Fusion Architecture – the stated intent to combine the photo-realistic imagery made possible by its graphics processing units with the processing power of its central processing units. The company believes its new “Fusion” brand concept captures the benefits of this same collaborative initiative across a range of technology platforms, partner relationships, employee teams, and market segments.

“At work, Fusion means delivering leading server performance against real-world workloads with best-in-class performance-per-Watt and powerful virtualization capabilities,” Dessau said. “At home, Fusion means enabling people to share the full range of digital content on any screen they choose. At play, Fusion builds on the AMD and ATI record of leadership in providing the first 3-D graphics processing unit and driving the graphics for both the Microsoft® Xbox™ 360 and Wii by Nintendo game systems.”

AMD has a history of technology breakthroughs in the work, home and play segments. For example:

• In the workplace, the company was the first to demonstrate both the world’s first x86 dual-core processor and the first native quad-core x86 processor.
• In the home, AMD invented 3DNOW!™ Technology, the first x86 innovation to significantly enhance 3D graphics and multimedia for PCs. It was also the first to break the 1GHz (one billion clock cycles per second) barrier with its AMD Athlon™ processor.
• At play, industry-leading ATI Radeon™ graphics cards, AMD 7-Series chipsets and AMD Phenom™ multi core processors combine for balanced, high-performance gaming platforms. Fused with unique software utilities such as AMD OverDrive™ and ATI Catalyst™ Control Center, AMD platforms empower gamers everywhere to push the boundaries of performance.¹

Consumers, especially PC gaming fans, can see and experience the power of Fusion on their PC desktop in a new and exciting way. Available today for download, the AMD Fusion for Gaming utility beta² is designed to allow gamers to experience greater performance on AMD processor-based PCs with a simple click of a button. It works by temporarily reducing resource-consuming background services while boosting compute performance with advanced acceleration technologies, including:

• Auto-Tune for AMD processors and chipsets, which is designed to optimize platform performance while maintaining system stability;
• Clock Multiplier Control and Advanced Clock Calibration from within the AMD Overdrive™ utility allows gaming enthusiasts to customize the performance level of their processor and platform.³ AMD Overdrive™ is able to monitor the temperature, frequency and stability of the processor and platform to allow users to find the optimal settings for the task at hand;
• Auto-Tune for ATI graphics from within the award-winning Catalyst™ Control Center software, providing complete control of the performance and visual quality of your ATI Radeon™ graphics for a personalized visual experience on the PC; and
• Hard Drive Acceleration to decrease data seek time and increase hard drive performance.¹

This tool is currently being released in a beta form and is designed to help gamers experience the power of AMD Fusion by creating an easily attained performance optimization previously reserved for a highly technical PC enthusiast community. Advanced users may then customize profiles by selecting specific processes for temporary disablement and degrees of hardware tuning depending on usage scenarios.

For more details about the new advertising campaign, visit http://fusion.amd.com and to download the AMD Fusion for Gaming utility beta version for AMD processor-based PCs, visit http://www.amd.com/fusionforgaming.

About Fusion: The Energy of Innovation

Fusion is AMD’s working philosophy. A philosophy that marries innovation with collaboration. Far more than just the convergence of microprocessor and graphics technologies, Fusion is the process by which AMD and its partners can ignite next-generation solutions that change the way people work, live and play through an adaptive combination of technology integration, customer intimacy and industry impact. Fusion is the process where customer needs and desires can bond with AMD’s own engineering passion and unique capabilities. To learn more about innovation and the next generation of breakthroughs, visit http://fusion.amd.com.

About AMD

Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is a leading innovator in semiconductor design and manufacturing dedicated to collaborating with customers and partners in ways that ignite the next generation of technology solutions at work, at home and at play. For more information, visit http://www.amd.com.

¹ AMD’S PRODUCT WARRANTY DOES NOT COVER DAMAGES CAUSED BY OVERCLOCKING, EVEN WHEN OVERCLOCKING IS ENABLED VIA AMD OVERDRIVE™ SOFTWARE. ADDITIONALLY, OVERCLOCKING YOUR SYSTEM MAY VOID THE WARRANTY OF THE SYSTEM AND SYSTEM COMPONENT MANUFACTURERS.

² THIS UTILITY IS BEING RELEASED AS A BETA VERSION AND, AS SUCH, MAY HAVE BUGS OR ERRORS WHICH RESULT IN SYSTEM INSTABILITY, DATA CORRUPTION OR INCORRECT OPERATION OF THE SOFTWARE OR COMPUTER SYSTEM IN WHICH IT IS IMPLEMENTED.

³ THIS UTILITY MAY DISABLE SECURITY / ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE, OR ADVERSELY AFFECT THE STABILITY OR SECURITY OF YOUR SYSTEM. MAKE SURE ALL IMPORTANT DATA HAS BEEN SAVED PRIOR TO USE AND CONTINUE TO MONITOR SECURITY PROTECTION LEVELS FOR YOUR SYSTEM. REVIEW ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTATION CAREFULLY BEFORE INSTALLING.

©2008 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, ATI, the ATI logo, AMD Athlon, AMD OverDrive, AMD Phenom, 3DNow!, Catalyst, Radeon, The Ultimate Visual Experience and combinations thereof, are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Other names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.