At CES 2025 in Las Vegas, AMD unveilednewchips for laptops, desktops, and gaming handhelds, highlighting its aggressive strategy to capture greater market share against competitors like Intel and Qualcomm.
AMD’s desktop and mobile chip offerings
AMD commanded a 28.7% share of the desktop CPU segment in Q3 2024, reflecting a 9.6 percentage-point increase from the same quarter the previous year. In the mobile chip market, AMD held 22.3%, a 2.8-percentage-point rise from the prior fiscal period.
A centerpiece of AMD’s announcements is the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, designed for gamers and creators. This processor features 16 cores based on AMD’s Zen 5 architecture, clocked up to 5.7GHz, and benchmarks suggest it is 8% faster on average in popular games like Hogwarts Legacy and Starfield compared to the Ryzen 7950X3D. The Ryzen 9 9900X3D, which has 12 cores and a maximum clock speed of 5.5GHz, will also ship in Q1 2025.
Additionally, AMD introduced the “Fire Range” series targeting midrange laptops and ultraportables. This lineup includes the Ryzen 9 9850HX, 9955HX, and 9955HX3D, featuring 12 to 16 cores clocked between 5.2GHz and 5.4GHz, with a reduced power draw of approximately 54W compared to the 170W of the Ryzen 9 9950X3D.
AI PC chips and handheld processors
AMD announced new processor series for AI-powered Copilot+ PCs, namely the Ryzen AI 300 series and the Ryzen AI Max series, both of which include a dedicated neural processing unit (NPU). The Ryzen 300 series, launching in Q1/Q2 2025, consists of chips with 6 to 8 cores at up to 5GHz, promising battery life exceeding 24 hours in optimal usage scenarios. The series features four SKUs: Ryzen AI 7 350, Ryzen AI 5 340, Ryzen AI 7 Pro 350, and Ryzen AI 5 Pro 340.
The Ryzen AI Max series, AMD’s flagship for Copilot+ PCs, offers between 6 and 16 cores clocked up to 5.1GHz, designed for high performance in 3D rendering and AI applications. The SKUs include Ryzen AI Max+ 395, Ryzen AI Max+ Pro 395, Ryzen AI Max 390, Ryzen AI Max Pro 390, Ryzen AI Max 385, Ryzen AI Max Pro 385, and Ryzen AI Max Pro 380, set to launch in Q1/Q2.
For budget-conscious consumers, AMD presented the Ryzen 200 series, which supports NPUs and consists of processors with 6 to 8 cores capped at 5.2GHz. These chips will debut in Q2 2025.
AMD also targeted the handheld gaming market with its new Ryzen Z2 processors. The Ryzen Z2 Go features four cores at 4.3GHz and 12 graphics cores, while the Ryzen Z2 Extreme has eight cores clocked at 5GHz and 16 graphics cores. The existing eight-core Ryzen Z2 runs at 5.1GHz with 12 graphics cores. These Ryzen Z2 SKUs will be available in Q1 2025.
Graphics card advancements
AMD revealed the Radeon RX 9070 XT and Radeon RX 9070 discrete GPUs, both based on the RDNA 4 architecture. This 4nm architecture improves ray tracing performance, media encoding quality, and AI acceleration. The RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 models will be available through manufacturers including Acer, Asus, Gigabyte, and XFX in Q1 2025.
AMD introduced its FidelityFX Super Resolution 4.0 upscaling technology, designed for RDNA 4 hardware, which utilizes AI algorithms to upscale game content to 4K resolution with minimal latency.
In conjunction, AMD’s Adrenalin software incorporates new AI functionalities, allowing users to generate images via a built-in image-generation model, summarize files such as PDFs, and interact with an AI-powered chatbot for AMD-related queries.
Featured image credit: AMD
