AMD began shipments of quad-core Llano CPUs

Today, in a blog post titled "LLano APU is Shipping", AMD disclosed that they began shipments of production quad-core Llano microprocessors to OEM partners. AMD market these processors as "APU", or "Accelerated Processing Units", justifying the name by the fact that the chips include additional circuitry to accelerate certain operations. First AMD APUs with 40nm Bobcat core were released in January of this year. These were single- and dual-core models with integrated graphics controller, and ultra-low Thermal Design Power. On the other hand, "Llano" A-series processors will be built on 32nm technology, and will incorporate from 2 to 4 CPU cores, as well as more capable Radeon HD 64xx/65xx graphics. The CPU cores on these APUs will be based on older "Stars", or K10, micro-architecture with added enhancements, such as improved Turbo Core feature on some models, and extensive use of power- and clock-gating to reduce power consumption. First desktop APUs will be released in July 2011. According to information, revealed by Xbit labs earlier this year, the first wave of A-series SKUs will consist of 5 parts - A4-3350 with 2 cores, and quad-core A6-3450, A6-3450P, A8-3550 and A8-3550P. Llano microprocessors will be also produced for mobile market.