AMD’s Zen 5 CPUs, APUs Will Likely Tap TSMC’s 3nm Process Node

Cutting-edge CPU on a cutting-edge node

Though AMD’s Zen 4 processors haven’t even launched yet, the rumors have already started about the chipmaker’s future Zen 5 chips. Given the time frame that we expect for the Zen 5 chips to debut, the information from the leaks makes sense. Nevertheless, we still recommend you approach all rumors with caution.

The partial AMD roadmap, is originated from China they claim that AMD will market its Zen 5 processors under the Ryzen 8000 branding, with both mainstream Ryzen processors and Ryzen 8000 branding umbrella which is reportedly uniting under the APUs. The rumored codenames for Ryzen 8000 chips is granite Ridge and APUs is Strix Point.

A hardware leaker with a solid record, believes that Zen 5 is predicated on the 3nm process node. AMD has long-lasting relationship with TSMC, it’s very expected that Zen 5 will tap into the foundry’s 3nm (N3) manufacturing process. Similarly, Samsung also has its own 3nm process node, so it’ll be interesting to ascertain whether the South Korean giant can chase AMD faraway from TSMC.

Raphael (Zen 4) is the predecessor to Granite Ridge. Granite Ridge will be compatible with the AM5 socket, which is purportedly making a transition from a Pin Grid Array (PGA) design over to a Land Grid Array (LGA) design. The general speculation for Zen 4’s debut is sometime next year, meaning we probably can’t see Zen 5 until 2023

Strix Point is rumored to feature a hybrid microarchitecture, almost like what Intel will do with its impending 12th Generation Alder Lake processors. In AMD’s case, Ryzen 8000 APUs could leverage the Zen 5 and Zen 4 cores, implying that AMD’s APUs expected that it may finally switch to a multi-chip module (MCM) approach.

Apparently, the small cores inside Strix Point, if you would like to place it that way, are called Zen 4D. The only problem we’ve with this leak is that the discrepancy between manufacturing processes. Zen 4 is predicted to feature the 5nm process node, while Zen 5 is presumably supported the 3nm process node. However, we do not discard the likelihood that AMD could refresh the Zen 4 cores to place them on the 3nm process node.

On the server side, the supposition says the EPYC 7005 (purportedly codenamed Turin) lineup will replace the EPYC 7004 (Genoa) family in 2023. Logically, Turing also will get on Zen 5 cores and therefore the 3nm process node. On the opposite hand, Threadripper’s fate continues to be a mystery for all.