This news comes straight from Taiwan: AMD is serious about realizing the oft talked-about union of CPU technology and graphics technology, known simply as Fusion, since it acquired ATI for a whopping sum of money. Now their money worth is out to take on both Intel and NVIDIA while they're still bickering at each other in the form of AMD's "Shrike."

Shrike is the codename of the first CPU+GPU prototype that manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is working on, along with the rest of the other models slated to come out under the Fusion line.

Theo Valich of TGDaily reports that AMD's engineers have also been frequenting TSMC's headquarters at Formosa, Taiwan, which leaves a lot to be said.

You wouldn't have expected that AMD would hold out this long, however, to keep from talking or hinting at the project's progress. Even while taking a backseat to Intel finest and just barely chugging up to NVIDIA's best, harboring a finance performance in the red, and news of management restructuring, they've managed to keep mum on the matter.

It has been claimed that the Shrike will carry a dual-core Phenom CPU along with an ATI RV800 GPU core, contrasting earlier rumors that the Fusion would carry a dual-packing Kuma CPU and an RV710 graphics processor.

The Shrike will be of a 40-nm profile at the beginning and work it's way down to the 32-nm specification early next decade. The RV800 core will be DirectX 10.1 compliant, thus being a candidate for DirectX 11-standards as well.

More details and specifications to come as soon as we get hold of them. Keep your eyes peeled.

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