We don’t have a lot of details at hand, nor has AMD (AMD) or the USB-IF issued a press release on the matter, but according to the USB-IF product database, AMD has gained USB-IF certification for both of its upcoming high-end Llano chipsets with integrated USB 3.0 support. This makes AMD the first company to gain USB-IF certification for a chipset level USB 3.0 implementation, which is a small win for the underdog x86 CPU maker, but still a win.
The two chipsets in question are AMD’s mobile A70M FCH (also known as Hudson-M3) and its desktop equivalent the A75 FCH (also known as Hudson-D3). From what we know, both chipsets feature a four port USB 3.0 implementation that was co-developed with Renesas (RNECF), although we’re not sure how similar this implementation is to Renesas’ own four port host controller, the µPD720201.
In as much as we applaud AMD’s achievement we just can’t help but wonder what’s going on. In as much as we’re confident that AMD has ready silicon by now and most likely has had these chipsets up and running for some time, we’re fairly certain that this wasn’t the case nine months ago when the smaller players in the USB 3.0 host controller market space started showing off their finished silicon.
We’ve been told by the USB-IF and we quote “The USB-IF Host certification is based upon a first come, first served basis.” This makes the lack of certification for products from four other companies very perplexing indeed and by now there are only two conclusions that can be drawn, either these four companies haven’t implemented the USB 3.0 standard correctly in their products, or USB-IF had working Llano silicon before AMD did.S|A
Lars-Göran Nilsson
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