It was rumored for a while now, and today it has become official: AMD is acquiring Canadian graphics chipset manufacturer ATI for $5.4 billion. The majority of that money, $4.2 billion, will be paid in cash, the rest with AMD shares. In PR speak, here's what AMD hopes to get out of this deal (apparently two companies merging will give the consumer more freedom, I'm not sure how that works)

AMD's acquisition of ATI will position the new company to deliver innovations that fulfill the increasing demand for more integrated solutions in key market segments while also continuing to develop "best-of-breed" discrete products that empower customers to choose the combination of technologies that best serves their needs. In 2008 and beyond, AMD aims to move beyond current technological configurations to transform processing technologies, with silicon-specific platforms that integrate microprocessors and graphics processors to address the growing need for general-purpose, media-centric, data-centric and graphic-centric performance. Thus, the combined company intends to empower its customers to create their own unique products and solutions within an open-innovation ecosystem free from artificial barriers to customer success.