AMD Reveals New AI Chips With 35x CPU Performance

AMD unveils next-generation AI PC architecture with powerful new NPUs and Zen 5 CPUs, aiming to lead the AI computing era.

Key details of AMD’s AI PC architecture: AMD executives revealed the company’s latest AI PC architecture, which includes a new neural processing unit (NPU) in the AMD Ryzen AI chips, offering significant performance improvements over CPUs and integrated GPUs:

• The NPUs in AMD’s Ryzen AI processors can operate on AI models at 35 times the performance per watt of a standard CPU and achieve eight times the performance of an integrated GPU.
• The third generation of AMD Ryzen AI chips will feature 16 RDNA 3.5 GPU compute units, 12 Zen CPU cores capable of computing 24 threads simultaneously, and an NPU that can deliver 50 TOPS using the AMD XDNA 2 architecture.

Advancements in XDNA 2 and Zen 5 architectures: AMD’s XDNA 2 NPU architecture and Zen 5 CPU cores bring substantial upgrades in performance and efficiency:

• XDNA 2 chips will have 32 AI engines and deliver 50 NPU TOPS, a significant increase from the first generation XDNA’s 20 AI engines and 10 NPU TOPS.
• The Zen 5 CPU core, appearing in upcoming Granite Ridge desktop processors, features improvements such as wider dispatch and execution capabilities, doubled cache data bandwidth, and AI acceleration, resulting in a 16% average instruction per clock cycle improvement over the previous generation.

The future of AI PCs: AMD predicts transformational experiences in collaboration, creation, assistance, and gaming/entertainment as AI processing marks a new era in computing:

• Local AI PCs offer advantages over cloud AI, including enhanced privacy and security, reduced latency and response time, and lower cloud costs.
• AMD expects a hybrid approach between edge and cloud computing, with AI-assisted tasks being performed locally on PCs and final outputs being sent to data centers for further processing.

Competitive landscape: AMD’s new Ryzen 9000 series processors and Ryzen AI 300 processors demonstrate strong performance against Intel and Qualcomm offerings:

• The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X outperforms Intel’s Core i9 14700K in gaming and productivity tasks, while the Ryzen 7 9700X surpasses Intel’s Core i7 14700K in gaming performance.
• AMD Ryzen AI 300 processors outperform both the Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100 in gaming benchmarks.

Broader implications: As AMD continues to push the boundaries of AI computing with its advanced NPU and CPU architectures, the company is well-positioned to lead the industry in the rapidly evolving AI era. The introduction of powerful AI PCs has the potential to revolutionize the way users work, communicate, and engage with technology, enabling a wide range of transformative experiences across various sectors. However, the true impact of these advancements will depend on the adoption of AI-powered applications and the ability of developers to harness the full potential of AMD’s cutting-edge hardware.