AMD's next-gen Sound Wave leaks: Arm-based APU to compete battle Qualcomm, Intel in 2026

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AMD's next-generation Sound Wave APU is reportedly a new Arm-based chip that will feature RDNA 3.5 GPU cores, MALL cache, and compete in the Windows on Arm market against Qualcomm, Intel, and soon NVIDIA in 2026.

In a new video from leaker Moore's Law is Dead, we're hearing AMD's next-gen Sound Wave APU will feature 2 x P-Cores and 4 x E-Cores of Arm-based CPU that won't deliver powerhouse performance, but instead will have fantastic battery life as Windows on Arm laptops do.

AMD is expected to use 4 x GPU cores based on the RDNA 3.5 GPU, but with improved ML (machine learning) performance that could be more of an "RDNA 3.5+" GPU instead. Sound Wave is expected to feature 16MB of MALL cache, a 4th Generation AI engine, a 128-bit LPDDR5X-9600 memory controller and 16GB of RAM expected to be the "standard" for the new Arm-based Sound Wave APU.

• 2 x P-Core + 4 x E-Cores with 4MB of L3 cache
• 4 x RDNA 3.5 CUs with improved ML performance (almost sounds like "RDNA 3.5+")
• 16MB of MALL cache
• 4th Generation AI engine
• 128-bit LPDDR5X-9600 memory controller
• 16GB of RAM is expected to be the standard for Sound Wave system

MLID notes that "I cannot yet confirm if this "improved RDNA 3.5" allows for it to run FP8 FSR 4. At first glance it seemed off to me that this APU gets MALL cache, but for power reasons it kinda makes sense to keep the number of CUs limited while providing extra bandwidth of the AI engine".

He continues: "Considering this little APU has MALL cache, it would REALLY surprise me if Medusa Point didn't have it too. I'm told that Zen 6 Olympic Ridge has an 8CU RDNA 4 iGPU, so if Sound Wave's iGPU still just uses an RDNA 3.5 variant, that's interesting".

• Read more: AMD's next-gen Zen 6 APU codenamed 'Sound Wave' teased, made on TSMC 3nm node

We first heard about Sound Wave last year, rumored as a Zen 6-based APU... but things are changing, AMD is moving Sound Wave into the Arm-based CPU world, and with the crumbling Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite-powered Windows on Arm laptops... well, AMD can come in and dominate the Arm APU market, too.