AMD’s Ryzen AI Chips Impress, Intensifying Laptop AI Arms Race

Key Takeaways: AMD’s new Ryzen AI 300 series processors, seen first in the Asus Zenbook S 16 laptop, deliver impressive performance across productivity tasks, graphics benchmarks, and advanced AI workloads, positioning AMD as a strong contender in the AI laptop market.

A Closer Look at the AMD Ryzen AI 300 Series: The new chips feature several architectural upgrades aimed at AI performance:

• The 4nm process node allows higher transistor density for speed and efficiency improvements
• The “Zen 5” CPU cores provide a 16% boost in instructions per cycle and up to 12 high-performance cores
• The RDNA 3.5 integrated GPU delivers 32% faster performance per watt
• The XDNA2 NPU expands to 32 engine tiles, increasing from 10 TOPS to 50 TOPS

Hands-On Testing: The Asus Zenbook S 16 (UM5606) with the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor was put through a range of benchmarks, both traditional tests and new ones focused on AI performance:

• In PCMark 10, HandBrake, and Cinebench, the Ryzen chip outperformed previous-gen AMD processors and edged out Intel Core Ultra 7 models
• Graphics tests showed stellar integrated graphics performance, sometimes enough for 1080p gaming
• Geekbench ML testing highlighted the NPU’s AI chops, tripling scores of recent Snapdragon-based systems

Competitive Landscape: While Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips were first to launch AI-focused Windows laptops, the Ryzen AI 300’s x86 support avoids app compatibility issues. Performance bests current Snapdragon offerings, though Intel’s upcoming Lunar Lake chips could shift the balance again later this year.

Analyzing the Implications: The Ryzen AI 300 series makes a compelling case for AMD’s AI hardware approach. By combining capable CPU and GPU upgrades with a significantly more powerful NPU, these chips deliver across-the-board performance improvements while enabling advanced on-device AI capabilities that don’t monopolize other processing resources. As AI features become key differentiators for laptops, AMD seems well-positioned to compete—though this is just the opening salvo in an escalating industry-wide battle.