Apple May Be Digging AMD's Fusion APU

Apple may or may not be eyeballing AMD's upcoming Fusion APUs.

During the annual AMD Financial Analyst Day presentation last week, Senior VP and Chief Sales Officer Emilio Ghilardi showed a slide (#7, in fact) featuring iMacs and Mac Pros. Since then, rumors have surfaced that Apple has been named as one of many companies having signed up for AMD's Fusion Accelerated Processing Unit (APU), slated for a launch early next year.

However AMD quickly swooped in and cleared the air. "Neither Apple nor AMD have made any announcements regarding Fusion in any future Apple product," said AMD Senior PR Manager Chris Hook. He added that Apple is merely an AMD hardware partner, and is not listed as a Fusion customer.

It's still curious as to why AMD would flash an iMac / Mac Pro slide during a Fusion APU presentation unless Ghilardi was referencing Apple's use of Radeon graphics. The company said last week that some Fusion shipments have already landed into manufacturers' hands, giving way to speculation that Apple could be toying with the APUs in pre-production test units. With that said, Apple may not be an official signed partner until the company determines if the product is right for the Apple brand.

In the meantime, AMD's upcoming APU definitely looks promising. "With our upcoming AMD Fusion APUs combining our DirectX 11-capable graphics processors and next-generation microprocessors on a single chip, we are poised to lead the industry’s next computing era with richer, more vivid digital experiences," said Dirk Meyer, AMD president and CEO during the Financial Analyst Day event.

To see AMD's Fusion technology in action, check out the video below (if you haven't already).