AMD's long-awaited Zen 5 CPUs could launch later this year, aligning closely with Intel's Arrow Lake launch, which could spell trouble for Team Blue and push AMD further toward hard-won desktop supremacy in the ranking of the best processors.
Chinese technology store UDN reports that AMD's Zen 5 CPU will be in mass production in the third quarter of this year, and notes that the flagship Zen 5 chips will be manufactured on 4nm process nodes. This is a big change from the previous generation of Zen 4 CPUs, which are based on a 5nm process, which could lead to much better performance in the long term.
This new supposed timeline contradicts Previous rumors suggested that the CPUs could already be in production.However, the year-end release now seems to be consistent across all the rumors, giving us hope that we'll see these new CPUs sooner rather than later; some older rumors even suggested that we may not see Zen 5 until 2025.
According to the new leak, the new CPU architecture will likely be desktop-grade and aimed at enthusiasts and gamers who enjoy building and modifying their own PCs. This means it's entirely possible we won't see the Zen 5 architecture in any laptops until at least next year. Fortunately, if you're currently running a Zen 4 chip (any of the Ryzen 7000 desktop CPUs), you won't have to upgrade your motherboard as the new chips will use the same AM5 socket. However, if you are using an older one (or an Intel one), be prepared to buy a new motherboard along with a new CPU.
A race to the market
Why is it important that AMD and Intel have similar release dates? AMD's focus on these new chips is to improve performance: the Zen 5 will be similar to the Zen 4 but faster thanks to its more refined 4nm process, so you'll have superior performance. So, if AMD can release its next-generation product before Intel, more people will fall for the promise of better performance and buy the Zen 5 processor first, potentially securing AMD a larger share of the CPU market. desktop. .
Additionally, if the rumors are true and we won't see any Zen 5-equipped laptops until much later (probably at CES or Computex in 2025), we could see AMD take that time to learn from the desktop launch and take advantage. Take advantage of the time between then and the launch of the laptop chip.
While both companies will likely want to launch their own next-generation chips first, they also won't want to launch a half-baked product. AMD and Intel have a short period between now and their respective release dates to perfect their products as much as possible before going into full-scale production, because if one were to release a really poorly made product, they would end up losing the race. before it even started.
