Graphics Core Next

Graphics Core Next (GCN) is the codename for both a series of microarchitectures as well as for an instruction set. GCN was developed by AMD for their GPUs as the successor to TeraScale microarchitecture/instruction set. The first product featuring GCN was launched in 2011.

GCN is used in 28 nm and 14 nm graphics chips in the HD 7700–7900, HD 8000, Rx 240–290, Rx 300, and Rx 400 series of AMD graphics cards. GCN is also used in the AMD Accelerated Processing Units code-named "Temash", "Kabini", "Kaveri", "Carrizo", "Beema" and "Mullins", as well as in Liverpool (PlayStation 4) and Durango (Xbox One).

GCN is a RISC SIMD (or rather SIMT) microarchitecture contrasting the VLIW SIMD architecture of TeraScale. GCN requires considerably more transistors than TeraScale, but offers advantages for GPGPU computation. It makes the compiler simpler and should also lead to better utilization. GCN implements HyperZ.

...
Wikipedia