AMD launches Kaveri processors, aimed at starting a computing revolution

Advanced Micro Devices is launching its code-named Kaveri processors today, which represent one of the biggest technical advances that the company has made in some time. Kaveri chips are meant for games and other high-performance applications.

The new chips show that AMD is moving in a very different direction from Intel, which at last week’s 2014 International CES put a lot of emphasis on “perceptual computing,” or using gestures and other new kinds of interfaces to control computers. Instead of interfaces, AMD is focusing on powerful graphics capabilities. AMD says Kaveri has 2.4 billion transistors (the basic building blocks of computer electronics), and 47 percent of them are aimed at better, high-end graphics.