We don't talk much about chips for so-called "embedded devices" on Ars—consumers can't normally buy them except as part of some larger product, and they're often just rebranded derivatives of other chips. However, AMD's just-announced G-series system-on-a-chip (SoC) implies some interesting things about the company's future products.

The chip comes with two or four x86 CPU cores based on the same "Jaguar" architecture being used in the PlayStation 4 and a Radeon 8000-branded integrated GPU, as well as the requisite chipset. The SoCs feature both Windows 8 and Linux support, and AMD intends them for use in "industrial control and automation, digital signage, electronic gaming systems, SMB storage, IP-TV, medical and network appliances, set-top-boxes, and more."

However, the more intriguing thing about this part is its branding: its logo has a small X in the corner, which is reportedly meant to designate it as an x86 part. To date, AMD has made x86 chips nearly exclusively, so the need to make the distinction points to a future where x86 isn't the only architecture the company is using.

"Ultimately, we're going to have x86 and ARM in our product portfolio," AMD's Arun Iyengar told Engadget.

This isn't a surprising development—AMD became an ARM licensee back in October, and it has made a lot of noise lately about the mobile chip talent the company has tried to attract. The only concrete announcements we've seen so far have been about server products. This is the first sign that AMD is looking beyond the server market with its ARM chips, and as the year goes on we expect we'll start hearing more about AMD ARM SoCs for embedded systems. It's quite possible phones and tablets will follow as well.