AMD’s graphics guru describes the march to full graphics immersion with 16K screens

When Advanced Micro Devices created its own stand-alone graphics division, Radeon Technologies Group, and crafted a new brand, Polaris, for its upcoming graphics architecture, it was an admission of sorts. AMD championed the combination of processors and graphics into a single chip, dubbed the accelerated processing unit (APU). But the pendulum swung a little too far in that direction, away from stand-alone graphics. And now it’s Raja Koduri’s job to compensate for that.

I interviewed Koduri at the 2016 International CES, the big tech trade show in Las Vegas last week. He acknowledged that AMD intends to put graphics back in the center. And he said that 2016 will be a very big year for the company as it introduces its advanced FinFET manufacturing technology, which will result in much better performance per watt — or graphics that won’t melt your computer. Koduri believes this technology will help AMD beat rivals such as Nvidia. AMD’s new graphics chips will hit during the middle of 2016, Koduri said.