AMD reportedly changes upcoming Ryzen CPU branding to one-up Intel — leak points to Ryzen AI 300 to leapfrog Intel's Core Ultra 200 series

AMD AI
(Image credit: AMD)

Rumor has it that AMD wants to change its Ryzen nomenclature for its next-generation Zen 5 mobile processors, just like Intel did with its latest Core Ultra nomenclature. According to reputable leaker Golden Pig on the Bilibili forums, the CPU manufacturer is allegedly ditching its existing Ryzen nomenclature for one featuring the words "Ryzen AI" with a 300 numbering scheme after the name.

As Intel did with the Core Ultra Meteor Lake processors, AMD could be attempting to rebrand its mobile CPUs. It's possible that AMD might want to emphasize that its chips sport a neural processing unit, a crucial component in Microsoft's new Copilot+ AI PCs.

Despite Ryzen AI being an all-new nomenclature, a few weeks ago, an Asus leak pointed to the possibility that AMD would opt to go with the 100 numbering scheme for its first Ryzen AI processors. However, Golden Pig's report claims that AMD has decided to skip the 100 and 200 numbering schemes and jump straight to 300 instead. No doubt this could be AMD's attempt to jump over Intel's next-generation Lunar Lake/Arrow Lake nomenclature, which will reportedly take advantage of an "inferior" 200-numbering scheme (Core Ultra 200 series).

(Image credit: Bilibili)

AMD's name change for its upcoming Ryzen processors shouldn't take anyone by surprise. The company has made it a habit of copying its competitor's model name nomenclature in one way or another. It is especially noticeable in the motherboard space, where many of AMD's chipset names take on the same nomenclature as Intel's counterparts. AMD even went so far as to "steal" the B650 chipset nomenclature, forcing Intel to call its competing chipset "B660" to prevent confusion.

Golden Pig's report says that Strix Point will be named Ryzen AI. However, we expect AMD will revamp its entire Ryzen mobile lineup to incorporate the new "Ryzen AI" nomenclature for chips that sport its XDNA NPU. It will include Strix Point, Strix Halo, and any other Ryzen architecture that comes with an NPU.

Strix Point is the codename for AMD's next-generation mainstream Ryzen mobile processors to succeed AMD's outgoing Ryzen 8040 series chips. The new CPU lineup is expected to debut with AMD's next-generation Zen 5 CPU architecture, RDNA 3.5 graphics, and an XDNA2 NPU with roughly 30 TOPS of performance. Strix Halo is the codename for AMD's high-performance mobile APU aimed at competing with the fastest SoC silicon on the market, such as Apple's M3/M4 processors.

Aaron Klotz
Contributing Writer

Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.


  • AMD reportedly changes upcoming Ryzen CPU branding to one-up Intel

    No, AMD has not changed nor confirmed anything. Don't get me wrong though.

    This is just a rumor for now, with no proof whatsoever from any leak, reports, or any other official confirmation from the company.

    Saying AMD has changed the branding name, means we are confirming this report is now "official", which is in fact NOT, regardless of how reliable any leaker might be on the internet.

    So the article's heading and TITLE can get a bit misleading, at least in my opinion.

    Strix Point is the codename for AMD's next-generation mainstream Ryzen mobile processors to succeed AMD's outgoing Ryzen 8040 series chips. The new CPU lineup is expected to debut with AMD's next-generation Zen 5 CPU architecture, RDNA 3.5 graphics, and an XDNA2 NPU with roughly 30 TOPS of performance.

    With NPU, the TOPS should be greater than 40 for the Strix Point APU lineup. Not 30.

    Reply
  • Although, we have NOT seen any benchmarks yet, nor any official Laptop product page listings from any OEM, which would further confirm this change in codename, technically speaking, Strix Point is the 3rd Generation of APUs with NPU architecture so it's valid for AMD to use the "300" series nomenclature, after all.

    :unsure: :D
    Reply
  • Notton
    I think this is plausible... considering how they copied B series chipset nomenclature off of intel... and made it very confusing buying a mobo with said chipset.
    Reply
  • tamalero
    I remember when they did this with the socket chipset numbers a decade or so ago when Ryzen came out.
    Reply
  • domih
    How about Ryzen ℵ 200 Ultra or a Ryzen ∞ 300 Yttrium eXtreme ?
    Reply
  • 35below0
    domih said:
    How about Ryzen ℵ 200 Ultra or a Ryzen ∞ 300 Yttrium eXtreme ?
    Make it stupider. ...or have Elon name it.
    Reply
  • But I find this move a bit odd/silly if AMD has indeed made this last minute naming change for the upcoming "Strix Point" APU series just because Intel is using the Core Ultra 200 nomenclature for Arrow and Lunar Lake lineup.

    Old numbering convention/'numerical loss' would've put AMD at a disadvantage against Intel's Core Ultra 200 family as the leak claims, which has enticed the marketing team to make this move ?

    Changing the nomenclature doesn't make any product more competitive or better though either. And the new naming convention should also match the upcoming lineup of that product, be it an APU, CPU or GPU.

    ""Hey, we all know 3> 2. Yes ? So, now we can sell more of these chips""- someone thought at AMD's marketing department !
    Reply
  • subspruce
    because they can't keep a damn naming scheme for more than 2 generations
    Reply
  • drtweak
    how about both of them just keep a naming scheme we can even understand. What happened to the days of me knowing a Core 2 Duo E8600 and a P8600 was the desktop VS mobile version or having letters in it to know which one is which? Like its like Core ultra 200? WTF Generation is that? where in the line up does it stand if anything else?
    Reply
  • usertests
    Metal Messiah. said:
    But I find this move a bit odd/silly if AMD has indeed made this last minute naming change for the upcoming "Strix Point" APU series just because Intel is using the Core Ultra 200 nomenclature for Arrow and Lunar Lake lineup.
    Obviously everything is unconfirmed, with this representing a rumored rebrand of a rumored rebrand. But I have a sick feeling that it will become reality.

    Without some sort of a change, we would have seen Ryzen 10000 though.
    Reply