AMD still working on ARM-based chip

Word is going around that AMD is still working on ARM-based chips. Since the arrival of the first Zen-based processors, we haven't heard a lot about ARM plans from AMD and thought these projects were largely abandoned. Now there's a rumor that AMD has a potential Apple M1 competitor and that prototypes are almost ready.

Citing a leak posted on Twitter by "Mauri QHD", NotebookCheck writes AMD is working on versions with and without integrated RAM. Earlier this year the K12 FFX codename popped up, perhaps that's the new ARM chip from AMD. Guess we'll find out more in the coming months.

Assuming that this so-called "K12 FFX" is for real, it may be intended for ultra-low power laptops and other mobile devices. Hopefully, by the time this chip hits market, Microsoft working together with AMD would be able to improve x86 emulation on ARM. Or better still, AMD can allow for an x86 consistency model like M1 to speed up legacy apps. This is something not currently possible on Snapdragon chips.

Not so long ago, AMD patents pertaining to "Instruction subset implementation for low power operation" surfaced online, which postulated several hybrid processor designs for mobile devices. While not fully clear if these designs are for x86 or ARM, it does point to the fact that a radically new low-power CPU architecture is indeed cooking in AMD labs.