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AMD begins open relationship with Windows, seeks Androids and Chromebooks



AMD continues to soldier forward in the PC market, but CEO Rory Read wants the company to get at least 20 percent of its revenue from other sources by the end of this year. Some of this money will come in from next-generation game consoles like the PlayStation 4 or the Xbox One. And some of it, according to a report from PC World, will soon be coming from Android tablets and Chromebooks.
"We are very committed to Windows 8; we think it's a great operating system, but we also see a market for Android and Chrome developing as well," AMD Senior Vice President and General Manager Lisa Su said at this week's Computex trade show. This runs counter to her statements from earlier this year, when the company was "betting heavily on Windows 8" and had no immediate plans to support Android.
Su didn't give a timeframe for when either Chrome OS or Android versions compatible with AMD chips would be available. However, the company did recently announce some low-voltage APUs (codenamed Temash) with TDPs of as little as 3.9 watts that could easily fit into this type of device. Those chips will supposedly be shipping soon, if they aren't already.
Moving to support other operating systems is a smart move for AMD, if one that they're a bit late with. Undercutting Intel on price has long been part of the company's business strategy, and both Chromebooks and Android tablets are continually trying to push prices lower. Current sub-$249 Chromebooks are powered by both ARM and Intel, and ARM-based Android tablets under $199 are also plentiful (and Intel is reportedly aiming for that price point with its forthcoming Bay Trail Atoms). At the right price, AMD's OK-CPU-good-integrated-GPU combination could be just what these devices are looking for.