AMD offered an update of its roadmap, revealing the company’s plans through 2020. On the CPU side, the future of AMD lies in the Zen 2 architecture made in 7 nm, a design that is already complete and offers improvements in multiple dimensions.
Currently, these dimensions are unknown, although Zen 2 is likely to deliver higher clock speeds thanks to 7nm and improved performance per clock cycle. AMD has also stated that its Zen 3 architecture is ongoing, although no further details have been published. If the slide is correct, ZEN 2 will be available in early 2019, and Zen 3 will be available in 2020.
In the GPU market, AMD has stated that its 7nm Navi architecture is on its way, with the Vega 7nm design already completed. So far, Vega-based graphics cards at 7nm are designed for the enterprise market for automatic learning applications, although a video game version would also be possible.
AMD talks about Zen 2, Navi and Vega at 7 nm
AMD has also spoken that its successor architecture to Navi and Vega at 7nm+ is on track for launch in 2020. The lack of a code name suggests that he plans to move away from GCN, perhaps opening the door to another Zen-like innovation for the graphics market. GCN has been with us since 2011, so it is time to present a successor, especially if you want to compete with Nvidia.
The combination of 7nm lithography and architectural advances will allow AMD to offer consumers more performance and energy efficiency, changes that may allow the company to surpass Intel’s current CPU offerings, especially if problems persist with its 10nm process.