AMD has been discussing its new ‘Fusion’ branding approach with customers and partners at this year’s GITEX.

The ‘Future is Fusion’ brand is intended to reflect a new integrated approach to computing platforms, and will be backed up with an extensive marketing and awareness campaign, AMD’s VP of marketing for EMEA, Jochen Polster, told itp.net.

“When look at what AMD is about, clearly it is not just a company that individually produces CPUs, GPUs and chipsets - we are not so much an individual silicon vendor anymore. The idea is not to focus on components, but to look more at what the end user wants to do with their computer,” Polster said.

The new approach will see AMD developing integrated product offerings under three broad categories – work, home and play – with branded platforms targeted at each.

According to AMD research, most buyers have a primary use in mind when purchasing a PC, so AMD will develop offerings that are optimized for each broad usage model. OEM partners will be given guidelines on which additional components would best complement the AMD core, and individual brands will be created for each category. The AMD Game and Business Class brands are already being developed, and the whole concept should be developed by Q1 of next year.While AMD will continue to sell standalone components, particularly in the ATI graphics chip lines, the usage model concept will be adapted to AMD’s server products as well. Polster said that the branding would help make purchasing decisions more straightforward for buyers and would also give smaller OEMs an AMD brand to help them compete with large brand name PCs.

Polster also discussed the AMD’s new deal to exit semiconductor manufacturing, saying that he believes it will give AMD a much stronger competitive position. AMD sold its microprocessor manufacturing to a new joint venture, the Foundry Company, formed with the Abu Dhabi government in an $8.4 billion deal at the start of the month. The government investment company Mubadala also increased its stake in AMD to 19%.

“Obviously the deal is a very important change in company philosophy. We have always maintained it was a good idea to have both design and production in one hand, but if you look at the way things are going in the semi-conductor business, manufacturing has become very, very expensive. We are talking about three, four, five billion dollars to refurbish your fab, and that’s every three or four years. [The deal with] Foundry makes sense, so long as we have to have a very close relationship with them,” he said.

“Now we are able to continue to invest ourselves in R&D, so overall from a financial perspective, and manufacturing perspective, we feel pretty well set up,” Polster added.