History and Evolution

Origins and ATI Era: The Radeon brand emerged as ATI sought to replace its Rage GPUs, which faced challenges with the Rage 128 due to technical issues and competition from Nvidia. Initially, ATI planned to name the new GPU line “Radium,” but concerns from its Japanese team about associations with radioactivity led to the adoption of “Radeon” just days before the launch, inspired by a suggestion from an ATI executive’s family member. The name has no definitive meaning but is speculated to be a blend of terms like “Radical” and “Aeon” or a variation of “Radium.”

AMD Acquisition and Rebranding: After AMD acquired ATI in 2006, Radeon products were initially branded as “ATI Radeon” until August 2010, when AMD rebranded them as “AMD Radeon” to boost global brand awareness. By 2015, AMD established the Radeon Technologies Group, led by Raja Koduri, to focus on GPU development, further solidifying Radeon’s identity as a standalone brand within AMD’s portfolio.