AMD this week held its Annual Shareholder Meeting the place it reiterated its present know-how roadmap and as soon as once more confirmed that that its main merchandise set to be launched this 12 months primarily based on 7nm can be formally launched in Q3. Previously the corporate implied on launch timeframes of its Navi GPU (a minimum of one in all them), Matisse CPUs, and Rome server CPUs, however by no means made a agency promise concerning the third quarter – this announcement is a commitment to delivering these merchandise in Q3.
The High Level
On a excessive degree, AMD believes that there are 4 know-how pillars that may outline its product roadmap in 2019 and ahead. These pillars are: the Zen 2 CPU microarchitecture, its Navi GPU structure, chiplet-based design structure that permits it to combine and match options and applied sciences to construct a proper processor for a given platform, and IP for TSMC’s 7 nm manufacturing know-how.
Since R&D processes take years, it was essential for AMD to make the proper bets when its involves microarchitecture and fabrication course of. That mentioned, this 12 months’s product launches signify a fruits of multi-year efforts by the entire firm, however contemplating that quite a few architectural issues could also be re-used for years, it will be important that they’ve been developed and carried out.
The Products
AMD’s 3rd Generation Ryzen processor, referred to as Matisse, guarantees a major efficiency improve in general-purpose duties from the place AMD is at present. It additionally provides a number of new options, similar to PCIe 4.zero interface help. Launching this product “shortly in Q3” implies that the corporate needs to make it accessible already in the course of the essential back-to-school season and nicely forward of critically essential vacation gross sales season.
Another important product sequence for AMD is its next-gen lineup of GPUs primarily based on its Navi structure. At least one in all these graphics processors can be launched within the third quarter. What is noteworthy is that Navi GPUs will coexist with AMD’s Radeon VII graphics playing cards, which signifies that the latter will proceed to serve the fanatic section of the market. Furthermore, AMD’s 7nm Vega GPU within the type of the Radeon Instinct MI60 will proceed to be supplied for high-performance computing workloads.
Also due in Q3 are AMD’s 2nd Gen EPYC processors, referred to as Rome. These server CPUs are set to characteristic as much as 64 cores powered by the corporate’s Zen 2 microarchitecture. It is price preserving in thoughts that it takes server customers a while to undertake new CPUs, and the launch of AMD’s 2nd Gen EPYC in Q3 doesn’t essentially imply that these processors can be utilized by an enormous quantity of designs right away. Nonetheless, it’s nonetheless essential to launch them moderately prior to later in a bid to ramp them up as quickly as attainable.
One product household price mentioning is Threadripper. AMD’s high-end desktop platform, at the moment accessible at 8-32 cores, is predicted to be encroached on by the Ryzen 3000 sequence. AMD briefly held in its roadmaps that Threadripper primarily based on Rome can be coming in 2019, nevertheless in its most up-to-date disclosures, that dedication has now not appeared and AMD has not commented on the matter. It might be that somebody made a mistake placing it on the singular slide deck through which it appeared, or there is a degree of inconsistency between AMD’s presentation groups primarily based on what they’re presenting to whom. Hopefully AMD will make clear the matter sooner or later, and with Computex coming in two weeks, it will be an ideal time to take action.
Source: AMD
