AMD's 'Temash' may power future Aakash tablets

After Intel, it looks like it is AMD that is set to enter the Indian market. In his statement to ET, AMD’s corporate vice-president and head of global channel sales, Roy Taylor revealed that the company is in talks with a few Indian tablet makers to get them interested in AMD's accelerated processor units (APU).

Big India plans

The low-cost Aakash tablet has been among the Indian government's most ambitious projects in recent times. That said, it has also been one surrounded with numerous controversies. Several questions were raised in the past over the capabilities of the tablet, especially with regards to its processing speeds. The Aakash 2 tablet showed a huge improvement over its predecessor in this respect, with its 1GHz Cortex A8 processor. If the company’s plans materialise, then AMD, which does not have any significant contribution in the tablet space, may just begin in a big way.

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It is no secret that this Sunnyvale, California-based company is the only significant rival to Intel in the CPU market. Intel already made its entry with XOLO in the country, but that said, the company is yet to do something significant. As for AMD, Taylor has clearly stated that the company is not looking to make processors for mobiles and smartphones in the immediate future, but may consider producing processors for mobile devices in the future. Reports quoted him as saying, "We're very keen to explore Indian tablets makers and will be meeting with HCL, Wipro and all the others in the market, to decide on which Indian manufacturers to pursue. We also intend to speak to vendors for (supplying to) the government."

Revealing AMD's plans, Taylor further added that tablets and computers would be the company's primary focus, since they run on the Windows platform.

Just last month, AMD had enhanced its 2013 A-Series and E-Series APU line-up with three launches. Of particular interest here is 2013 AMD Elite Mobility APU, formerly codenamed "Temash". AMD refers to it as the world's first 28nm, quad-core x86 SoC APU that is designed for small form-factor touchscreen notebooks, tablets, and hybrids. If AMD's plans to supply to Aakash's manufacturers takes shape, who knows, we may just find "Temash" powering it.

He noted that India is a crucial market for the company, since it gave them a “large value proposition". "We are ready for significant financial investments in India to explore all possible avenues of good long term gains and holistic benefits to our clients and customers," he said.