It seems like AMD has changed its plans regarding the release of the Llano APU line as multiple sources confirm that the company now aims to launch its second generation Fusion chips sometime in May, instead of early Q3 as most of the rumors implied.
Previously, AMD planned for Llano to enter mass production in June of 2011, but during a recent AMD Fusion launch event that took place in India, a company representative, cited by the CIOL publication, has stated that this line of APUs will be available starting May.
And now, just a few days after the first news report hit the web, DigiTimes cites a Chinese newspaper which states that AMD has accelerated the production of its Llano APUs and is expected to begin shipping the APUs to ODM/OEM makers as early as May.
Llano is AMD's second Fusion chip to be released this year, after the company introduced the Brazos platform during CES 2011.
The chip uses AMD's Stars processor architecture (found in Phenom II and Athlon II chips) with a few enhancements, and pairs it together with a DirectX 11 compatible on-die GPU which features six SIMD engines with 80 stream processors each.
Among the most important CPU enhancements brought to its design is the addition of an integrated PCIe 2.0 controller as well as the support for 1600MHz memory.
Once officially released, Llano will be available in dual, triple and quad-core configurations and is destined to replace the Athlon II in the desktop space, early reports suggesting its performance is on part with that of an Intel Core i3 540 processor.
The chip will be manufactured by GlobalFoundaries using their HKMG 32nm SOI process technology.
All Llano APUs will be part of the Sabine platform, feature Turbo Core, core power gating as well as digital on-die temperature measurements, and are compatible with AMD's Socket FM1 motherboards.
