AMD's graphics and computing technologies power a variety of devices including personal computers (PCs), game consoles and the powerful computers and servers that drive the Internet and businesses. As part of our design efforts, AMD strives to provide products that help our customers address modern computing workloads while minimizing environmental impacts.
Energy Efficiency
Concerns over climate change and rising energy costs have increased awareness of, and demand for, energy-efficient information technology (IT). Our processors impact the power consumption and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the use of a broad range of technology products. From high-performance computers, to commercial servers, to consumer laptops, AMD continues our efforts to improve energy efficiency through internal design teams and performs ongoing product evaluations.
AMD Fusion Accelerated Processing Units (APUs)
In 2011, AMD launched a new class of processor, the AMD Fusion Family of APUs. A single die (chip) design integrates multi-core central processing unit (CPU) (x86) technology, discrete-level graphics with a parallel processing engine, a dedicated high-definition video acceleration block, and a high-speed bus that moves data across the differing types of processor cores. New power savings features include AMD AllDay™ power designed to extend notebook battery life. AMD Fusion APUs also enable developers to take advantage of the parallel processing power available in a graphics processing unit (GPU). The use of GPU's to perform computing applications such as multimedia, productivity, and simulations helps applications run faster and simultaneously, allowing PCs to transition to lower power idle/sleep/off states for longer periods of time. For more information on energy savings from APU Fusion Products, see the AMD Fusion carbon footprint study.
Servers
Energy efficiency continues to be an important design consideration for multi-Core AMD Opteron™ processors for servers. The power needs of AMD's 12-core processor are similar to that of the previous generation 6-core processors. When compared to the single core AMD Opteron™ processors offered in 2003, the power rating per core is reduced more than 9-fold1.
- Power-saving features - AMD Opteron™ processors incorporate power management technology that is designed to address the energy efficiency needs of data centers, ranging from cloud computing environments to high performance computing. This includes AMD-P technology, a suite of advanced features that can help significantly reduce energy usage.
- Cloud Computing - AMD sever technology supports a variety of data center workloads, including virtualization, web/cloud, IT infrastructure, database, high performance computing (HPC), and email/collaboration. In cloud computing environments, peak workloads and time periods must be handled efficiently and power consumption should be reduced during low utilization periods. Multi-Core AMD Opteron™ processors incorporate AMD Virtualization™ (AMD-V™) technology with enhanced power management features to address these needs. These features can help cloud data center operators to perform server consolidation, to increase utilization rates, and to reduce overall power and cooling requirements.
Graphics
AMD also implements power management features in our graphics processors. For example, AMD PowerPlay™ technology manages graphics power states (voltage and frequency) based on active workloads which allows the GPU to function in the lowest possible power state for a given computing requirement.
Desktop and Mobile
AMD technology also supports out of band computer management and wakeup, based on the Desktop and Mobile Architecture for System Hardware (DASH) 1.1 standard developed by the Desktop and Mobile Task Force. Out of band management offers enterprises the ability for remote power management and PC wakeup.
Product Content
Semiconductor products are small in size but they incorporate materials that can be hazardous. Regardless of the small quantities and the limited potential for exposure to these materials, we continue our efforts to reduce the content of hazardous materials in our products. Outlined below are some of the actions we have taken to comply with material restrictions established by both regulatory and customer requirements:
Lead
Lead in electronic products has been restricted by regulation in a number of countries over the past several years. AMD began formulating a strategy to address lead and other substances of concern more than 10 years ago, and now offers products that are compliant with the European Union (EU) and China requirements for the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) in electronics. For example, we have collaborated with our suppliers and invested significant engineering resources to introduce "Lead-Free" CPU and APU products to the market. (To qualify as "Lead Free", a part/product must not contain more than 1000 parts per million (ppm) of lead within any homogeneous material). Where lead is still in use in limited applications exempted by regulations, AMD continues our research and development efforts to develop lead-free alternatives.
Halogens
Halogens refer to a class of chemical compounds containing one or more elements in the halogen family (such as chlorine or bromine). Some materials containing halogens have caused concern among customers and stakeholders. In response, AMD has developed a strategy to identify halogen-free alternatives for existing materials in our products. Beginning in early 2009, AMD introduced new microprocessor and graphics products that are "Halogen Free2."
REACH
In addition to compliance with restrictions of hazardous materials, AMD is addressing other chemical restriction initiatives such as the EU's Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and restriction of Chemical substances (REACH) regulation. Since the transfer of our wafer manufacturing assets in 2009, much of the compliance requirements are now in our supply chain. Nonetheless, AMD continues to track developments and collaborate with our supplier partners in order to address REACH requirements. An AMD supplier specification identifies and restricts chemicals that are regulated under REACH, including phthalate compounds and other substances identified for phase-out under Annex XIV of the regulation.
Conflict Minerals
In 2010, a new U.S. law went into effect which required the disclosure of due diligence activities associated with the sourcing of four minerals: tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold. The extraction and trade of these minerals has been associated with supporting conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and adjoining countries. AMD has collaborated with leading nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), socially responsible investment analysts and companies from other industrial sectors to lead the development of consensus policies for implementing the new law. As the only multi-stakeholder consensus process, this collaboration has helped shape efficient and effective policy for addressing this issue.
Although we use very small quantities of these minerals in our products, we are taking the necessary steps to determine whether or not they originate from the DRC region. Our actions in this area are outlined in the supplier responsibility page.
Product Resource Efficiency and End-of-Life
Efficient use of natural resources in products and during the manufacturing of products is a key aspect of sustainable product design. The resource efficiency of IT products can be improved by making products smaller, and by integrating more functions into one device.
Resource Efficiency
AMD's newest class of processor, the AMD Fusion family of APUs, incorporates three chips that were previously manufactured separately (a CPU, GPU and Northbridge chipset) into a single die (chip) design. This combination of an integrated design, as well as a greater than three-fold reduction in overall product volume, results in less resources needed from material extraction and manufacturing, as well as less material to recycle or dispose at the end of the product's useful life.
Manufacturing Efficiency
The carbon footprint study of the AMD E-350 APU found as much as a 46% reduction in the carbon footprint from manufacturing compared to the previous generation products. Electricity use accounts for the largest portion of the manufacturing carbon footprint. The reduction in the number of chips being manufactured (from four in the previous generation reference system to two in the APU reference system studied) accounts for much of the savings.
End of Life Extension
AMD products can also help extend the life of computing platforms, thus contributing to reduced electronic waste. For example, AMD Opteron™ platforms utilize a common architecture for 1P through 4P servers, as well as common chipsets across platforms. AMD Extended Migration is a hardware feature that enables virtualization software vendors to provide live migration capabilities between systems with different generations of AMD Opteron™ processors. This technology allows for system upgrades in virtualized data center environments while avoiding hardware replacements and the associated waste.
Product Packaging
Packaging can refer to the materials used to ship our product as well as the protective coating around a semiconductor chip. The focus of this section is on materials used for shipping and handling our products.
Our packaging designers seek out environmentally preferable packing materials and methods to minimize packing that meet our needs for product protection, cost, material properties, and compliance with industry standards.
We specify the packing materials used for our products, including recyclability of materials and use of recycled content. We have established requirements to limit the presence of certain heavy metals, such as lead and cadmium, marking plastic parts with the appropriate SPI (Society of the Plastics Industry) International Resin Codes for recycling, and using water-based inks and dyes.
AMD ships products to our customers in trays that are reclaimed for reuse and then recycled when no longer usable. We use unbleached cardboard boxes for shipping products, and we transitioned from Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) to cardboard for the outer packing of our Processor-In-a-Box product (PIB). In fact, AMD no longer uses PVC in any of our packing materials.
In 2010, AMD reduced the weight of the PIB package by 36%, eliminated a cardboard insert, reduced labeling from three labels to one, and reduced the size of the installation poster by 44%. These reductions allowed for an additional 400 units to be packed on a single shipping pallet resulting in a reduction of 1,352 metric tons CO2 from reduced shipping weight. Our environmental packaging initiatives continue in 2011, with a focus on reusable containers for product returns and alternative packing material with a higher recyclable content.
AMD and The Green Grid
The Green Grid is a global consortium of IT and enterprise companies and professionals seeking to advance energy efficiency in data centers and business computing ecosystems around the globe. The organization seeks to unite global industry efforts to standardize on a common set of metrics, processes, methods and new technologies to further its common goals. Started in 2006, AMD is a founding member.
We recently sat down with John Fruehe, director of Server Product Marketing and AMD's board member on The Green Grid, to discuss the organization's expanded focus on sustainability measures. The full interview is in the product stewardship section of our 2010 Annual CR Report.