AMD Zen 6 Medusa Chips Could Arrive in 2025
Having recently announced the first batch of Zen 5 desktop and mobile processors at Computex, AMD has already begun leaking information about its Zen 6 processor, codenamed Medusa. According to new leaks, Medusa is scheduled for release in late 2025, and AMD’s rapid launch pace is reportedly designed to stay at the top of the AI specification charts.
Zen 6 Medusa and the Next Generation of CPUs
According to sources speaking to YouTuber Moore’s Law is Dead (MLID), several AMD employees are aware of the new architecture, dubbed Medusa, but opinions differ on what it will entail. According to one source, it will be a family of products spanning desktop, mobile and a mobile halo product. As you may recall, AMD’s desktop products are codenamed “ridge”, while its mobile parts are called “point” and “halo” for extreme mobile. For Zen 5, we have Granite Ridge and Strix Point. The Strix Halo product is not available for now.
TSMC’s 3nm Process and AMD’s Strategy
Strix Halo and Zen 6 Medusa seem to be based on TSMC’s 3nm process. The recently announced Zen 5 chips use TSMC’s N4 process, which is a bit of a surprise, as 5nm was used for Zen 4 and a switch to 3nm was expected for this architecture. MLID notes that the Strix Point and Strix Halo were originally designed with a 3nm chipset architecture. Issues with the chipsets and delays from TSMC caused this plan to be shelved, so the Strix Point will now appear as a 4nm monolithic die. However, the Strix Halo could come with a 3nm chipset design later this year to rival Intel’s Lunar Lake, at least in the neural processing unit (NPU) department.
MLID says AMD is determined to stay ahead of Intel in NPU performance, which is the driving force behind the launch program. To stay ahead of Intel’s Meteor Lake chips in the evolving AI arms race, AMD launched the Zen 4000 8000 series of chips for desktop and mobile devices with only an upgraded NPU. The NPU in Meteor Lake was capable of 11 TOPS, while the XDNA NPU in the Zen 4 8000 series offered 16 TOPS. This number will increase to 48 TOPS for Lunar Lake and 50 TOPS for Zen 5 Strix Point.
Another interesting piece of information from this leak is that AMD wants to move to a 3nm I/O die for Medusa Zen 6. This will be a big change since Zen 4 and Zen 5 use TSMC 6nm for this chip. Also, the leak source states that the Zen 5 Strix Point was supposed to come out in the first quarter of this year but was delayed by two quarters due to the issues described above. Strix Point Halo has been delayed for almost a year, but it has the potential to be a serious competitor to Intel when it arrives.
As always, such rumors should be treated with caution. We don’t yet know exactly what AMD has planned for its Halo mobile product or the rest of the Zen 5 Strix Point lineup. Only two CPUs have been announced so far, so clearly it has many more chips to talk about. Intel’s Lunar Lake is also still months away and is not expected to launch until the third quarter of this year.
