AMD confirms Zen 6 and Zen 6c will launch in 2025, but Intel is poised to seize the fastest CPU server position for the first time in a decade in a matter of weeks
AMD recently outlined its future plans at an event in Los Angeles, detailing three architectures coming to market in 2024: Zen 5, RDNA 3.5, and XDNA 2.
Zen 5 architecture, AMD’s next-generation CPU cores, is expected to deliver a 16% improvement in instructions per clock (IPC) and a 33% increase in core count. It features improvements in several technical areas, including fetch and decode processing, as well as broader dispatch and execution engines along with improved cache bandwidth.
AMD plans to offer both performance-focused Zen 5 and area-optimized Zen 5c cores, improving cost efficiency and simplifying system management.
Zen 6 in 2025
On the graphics front, RDNA 3.5 brings a major update to the Radeon 780M with a 19-32% performance boost compared to the previous generation Ryzen CPUs. ServeTheHome says: “The AMD RDNA 3.5 is a significantly faster GPU IP block that takes the learnings from AMD’s licensing of GPU IP to Samsung for its mobile phones and transfers those efficiencies to the new integrated GPU.”
Additionally, AMD is taking a step forward in AI with its XDNA 2 NPU, based on Xilinx technology and integrated into the Ryzen AI 300 series mobile processors, which also benefit from the new Zen 5 architecture and RDNA 3.5 graphics.
AMD’s dominance in the server CPU market is facing a formidable challenge from Intel, however. Its archrival is poised to take the lead for the first time in a decade with the upcoming launch of its 128 P-core Granite Rapids-AP line, perhaps in time for Intel Innovation in September.
While we don’t have confirmation yet, AMD’s Turin family, based on Zen 5 and Zen 5c, will likely launch in time for Supercomputing 2024 in November. ServeTheHome points out that “this will be the first time in seven years that AMD and Intel will have P-core parity in the data center.”
AMD didn’t have anything of note to announce at the LA event about the next-generation Zen 6 processors, which were first mentioned at Computex 2024. We still don’t know much about the Zen 6 and Zen 6c architectures at this point, only that they’re still on track for a 2025 release.