By Josh Ong

Published: 09:12 PM EST (06:12 PM PST)

Former AMD employees revealed that Apple gave its "Llano" chip a "close look" for a new MacBook Air model last year, but ultimately decided not to go with the processor because too many of its parts were faulty, according to a new report.

AMD has been through several reinventions in recent years in a quest to find a niche to call its own. The company was an early competitor to chip giant Intel, but it has struggled to keep up pace with its rival as of late.

Brian Caulfield reports for Forbes that new "fusion" processors from AMD had a shot at upstaging Intel by making their way into Apple's popular MacBook Air notebook for last year's refresh. People familiar with the matter indicated that Apple had given the "Llano" processor, which combined the CPU and GPU into one part, serious consideration for use in its thin-and-light portable.

However, a former employee indicated that AMD was unable to get early working samples of the chip to Apple on time, though tipsters disagreed on exactly how close the company was to delivering the chip, with one claiming that AMD "had it." According to the report, too many of the parts ended up being faulty and AMD lost the deal.

Sources also said AMD had proposed a low-power processor named "Brazos" for a revamp of the Apple TV box, but Apple declined to go with the option. "Brazos" went on to make inroads in the netbook industry and reportedly kept the company afloat.

"If Brazos had been killed, AMD wouldn’t be in business," one former employee said.

A separate report from late last year also claimed that Apple had considered the AMD "Llano" option "plan A" for its MacBook Air, but AMD was said to have "dropped the ball" at the last minute.



Apple released the Thunderbolt MacBook Air last July with Intel's Sandy Bridge processors powering the notebooks. The machines became an instant success and reportedly jumped to 28 percent of the company's notebook shipments just months after they were released.