AMD has just unveiled its Zen 2 architecture on a 7nm design but it seems the development of its future core for after 2020 is already underway. Although we know Zen 3 and Zen 4, it seems that its Zen 5 architecture is already planned and in the works, proving this for future generations of Ryzen, Threadripper, and EPYC processors.
The Zen 5 architecture would use a 5 nm node
AMD’s Zen 5 will be a successor architecture in 2021 that will be presented in the next generation processors of the Ryzen family, Threadripper and EPYC. We cannot confirm whether AMD will use the same CPU naming conventions in 2020 and beyond, but as before, all processor families will have the new Zen architecture.
The AMD Zen 5 core was confirmed by AMD recently in their slides during the introduction of Zen+. This was again confirmed by David Suggs, chief architect of AMD Zen 2 and Zen 5 microprocessor cores: AMD employs teams within the CPU department that work in parallel on different Zen cores. David, in particular, is the lead architect behind the AMD Zen 2 kernel, which recently made its debut with the Ryzen 3000 processors and the upcoming Zen 5 kernels.
We know that AMD’s Zen 2 is based on the 7nm architecture and the next Zen 3 is based on the 7nm+ process already in 2020. The AMD Zen 4 kernels are currently in design and their release is scheduled for 2021. Until then, AMD is expected to jump to the 5 nm processing node, which would result in processor cores up to 80% more dense than what the 7 nm currently allows.
“If AMD uses TSMC’s latest 5 nm node, also known as N5, the company with its next-generation Zen-based Ryzen series could expect an 80% increase in transistor density, a 15% increase in overall performance and a 45% reduction in matrix area.”
With this roadmap, it is easy to expect the Zen 5 kernel to start between 2022 and 2023 with an optimized node of 5 nm, which would significantly improve performance.