AMD to offer Thunderbolt rival named Lightning Bolt

Posted on Thursday, September 06 2012 @ 22:01 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck

Chip designer AMD is working on Lightning Bolt, a competitor for Intel's Thunderbolt technology. The Lightning Bolt platform will not go after the same high-bandwidth market as Thunderbolt, instead its focus will be on multi-device and electric charging capabilities.

Plugging a Lightning Bolt enabled cable in a single DisplayPort 1.2 port will enable you to connect to a dock that can drive up to three additional displays, as many USB ports as you want, gigabit Ethernet, audio ports, and even recharge your laptop.

Interestingly, Lightning Bolt is a hardware capability that doesn't require drivers. It enables USB 3.0 channels from the chipset and the DisplayPort channels from the APU to be routed over a cable and out to a hub. Basically, AMD promises a wider array of connectivity capabilities than USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt at a cheaper cost. More info can be found at SemiAccurate.

AMD Lightning Bolt features and specifications

AMD Lightning Bolt features and specifications

About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.

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