Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE: AMD ) or AMD is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Sunnyvale, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for commercial and consumer markets. Its main products include microprocessors, motherboard chipsets, embedded processors and graphics processors for servers, workstations and personal computers, and embedded systems applications.

AMD is the second-largest global supplier of microprocessors based on the x86 architecture (behind Intel) and also one of the largest suppliers of graphics processing units. It also owns 8.6% of Spansion, a supplier of non-volatile flash memory.

AMD is the only significant rival to Intel in the central processor (CPU) market for (x86 based) personal computers. Since acquiring ATI in 2006, AMD and its competitor NVIDIA have dominated the discrete graphics processor unit (GPU) market.

AMD APP technology is a set of advanced hardware and software technologies that enable AMD graphics processing cores (GPU), working in concert with the system’s x86 cores (CPU), to execute heterogeneously to accelerate many applications beyond just graphics. This enables better balanced platforms capable of running demanding computing tasks faster than ever, and sets software developers on the path to optimize for AMD Accelerated Processing Units (APUs).

Groundbreaking AMD App Acceleration helps you:
Enjoy beautifully rich and clear video playback when streaming from the web
Take in your favorite movies in stunning, stutter-free HD quality
Run multiple applications smoothly at maximum speed
Enjoy lightning fast game play and realistic physics effects