AMD CTO Mark Papermaster and AMD Executive Vice President of Partnership Roy Taylor,
Highlighting the innovativeness and business opportunities of VR through a keynote speech

AMD announced that Mark Papermaster, its Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, will deliver a keynote speech titled “Race to Reality – The Next Billion-People Market Opportunity” at the 2016 International Consumer Electronics Show (IFA 2016) to be held in Berlin, Germany on September 3.

Mark Papermaster, CTO, said, “The various current applications of virtual reality are just the beginning of what is possible in the future. Advancements in hardware, displays, and sensors will be realized within the next two to five years, which will lay the foundation for improved performance, price, and mobility of virtual reality solutions, as well as applications utilizing new technologies.”

Furthermore, “Virtual reality and augmented reality will completely transform various industries, ranging from entertainment and education to healthcare, and lead the way to new innovations.” “The industry is already ready for change, and now we must focus on improving hardware, software, and visualization technologies,” he emphasized.

Meanwhile, CTO Mark Papermaster’s presentation on virtual reality will be joined by Roy Taylor, Vice President of Partnership at AMD, who was recently appointed Chairman of the BAFTA Virtual Reality Advisory Group. This independent advisory group studies the impact of virtual reality on the current film, television, and gaming industries and provides next-generation creators with new opportunities for media utilization. Key figures from the virtual reality industry will also attend the presentation to discuss the development of virtual reality technology in various fields, including entertainment, broadcasting, journalism, and education.

Tom Mainelli, Program Vice President of Devices and Virtual/Augmented Reality Research at the prominent U.S. market research firm IDC, explained, “Virtual reality is rapidly overcoming past technological limitations,” adding, “Based on the rapid advancements in GPUs, CPUs, and software, along with powerful performance and affordable prices, product adoption will increase significantly in the short term. Technology will transform various industries, and the era of immersive computing will soon arrive.”

In fact, the potential of the current virtual and augmented reality market is considered very high. According to market research by IDC, the market size for virtual reality and augmented reality products is projected to grow from $5.2 billion in 2016 to $162 billion in 2020.

AMD is also developing next-generation graphics and computing processors to expand the reach of virtual reality. The recently released AMD Radeon™ RX 480 provides a smooth virtual reality environment based on its exceptional performance and graphics rendering capabilities. With a suggested retail price of $199 USD, this product offers a premium virtual reality experience at a reasonable price. In addition, AMD announced the next-generation high-performance processor, the “Zen” core, which delivers performance per clock improved by more than 40% compared to previous generations. Desktop products equipped with Zen core-based Summit Ridge processors are scheduled for release in early 2017.

AMD CTO Mark Papermaster's IFA keynote speech is available for live viewing and replay via the AMD.com live webcast.