A device known as an APU has both the CPU and Graphics on the same chip. AMD introduced the term "APU" and introduced the first APU in January 2011.

For many years, GPUs were only used for graphics tasks, while Processors handled all non-graphics computations. Graphics had a lot of untapped promise, hardware designers and software developers discovered as GPU speed grew. So they started looking for methods to transfer some system computations to the GPU. Through a procedure known as "parallel processing," the GPU and Processor can work together to execute computations simultaneously, enhancing efficiency.

By eliminating the connection between the Processor and GPU and combining both components on the same device, the APU advances simultaneous processing. An APU is more effective than a distinct Processor and Graphics since the pipeline is the primary barrier in simultaneous computing. For desktop computers with specialized video cards, this approach might not make sense, but for notebooks and other mobile devices with embedded graphics processors, it can result in noticeable speed improvements.

Modern Intel designs like Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge are built with combined CPUs and Graphics, despite the fact that Intel processors are not known as APUs. These circuits are sometimes dubbed "hybrid processors," since they incorporate both the central processing unit and the graphics processing unit.