Zen 4 has not arrived yet that some people have already their eyes on the next developments from AMD. Zen5 is the future CPU architecture of the Reds which is planned for late 2023 or early 2024. It should use the 3nm process of TSMC. The latter have regularly praised the benefits of this new process. The 3nm offers 25% to 30% less power consumption, 10% to 15% more performance and an increase of 1.7 times the density of transistors compared to 5 nm. But, even if the Taiwanese company says that 3nm will be produced in the second half of this year, mass production will not be possible until next year. However, access to all the initial production is reserved for its “VIP ” customers that are Intel and Apple. But once this “exclusivity” is lifted, MediaTek and Nvidia have also committed to using not only 3nm, but also the future 2nm.
ZEN5: AMD trapped by Intel and TSMC?
According to Digitimes, if AMD wants to get production capacity at TSMC, it will be impossible in 2023. Even if it’s possible to negotiate a slot for 2024, production won’t be finished until the end of the year, and it’s more likely to be 2025. AMD finds itself in a complicated situation and would have to diversify. TMSC being the master of the game, it will increasingly reserve its best manufacturing processes for its most profitable customers. This is why AMD could turn to Samsung Foundry or even to Intel’s service. The other hypothesis would be that AMD decides to release Zen5 on a less “fresh” process like for example an evolution of the N5 from TSMC.