According to an online source, consumers could see another option when looking for tablets and smartphones. That option is going to come from AMD as the company has reportedly hired two senior engineers from Apple and Qualcomm recently. AMD hired Charles Matar from Qualcomm and he has plenty of experience with System on Chip processors, while Apple gave up Wayne Meretsky who was one that worked on processors for the iPhone and iPad. Matar will be in a vice president role while helping AMD develop SoC processors for mobile devices. Meretsky will be working in AMD’s software development as vice president of software IP development.

This could mean big things to come in the smartphone and tablet market. AMD could choose to go up against the new processors from Qualcomm, Nvidia and Samsung which might come to a surprise as the company did not seem at all interested in making chips for mobile devices before. AMD has mainly kept its focus on processors for laptops and desktops up to this point, but did show off some gadgets at the CES this year powered by AMD chips. Vizio was one company that showed off a new tablet that was powered by Windows 8 and an AMD processor.

AMD could also be coming along with its x86 processors for smartphones and if that is the case, the company will be going up against Intel as they already have processors in many Android powered smartphones in China and Europe. The most recent smartphone is called the Lenovo K900, which was announced just a couple weeks ago. Since more consumers are headed over to the tablet arena and talking extra long before they decide they do not want to buy another PC or laptop, AMD is getting forced to make a business decision to stay ahead of the game.

The PC industry is one that makes up about 80 percent of the revenue for AMD, giving the company no choice but to find more ways to make money in case the PC market really takes a dive. AMD was in the news recently as they were forced to lay off more than 15 percent of their employees due to the PC business slowing down. If the company can get into the mobile market, they will likely save the jobs of employees left working there.