MSI's next-gen Claw gaming handheld rumored to use AMD's next-gen Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme APU

MSI's next-generation Claw gaming handheld is reportedly going to be powered by AMD's upcoming Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme APU, marking a move away from Intel and its Meteor Lake chip used in the current Claw handheld.

Intel has launched its new Core Ultra 200V series "Lunar Lake" processors, but the uptake on gaming handhelds isn't that great -- because AMD's range of APUs are continuing to get better and better -- especially with its new Strix Point and Strix Halo APUs crushing anything Intel has on the market.

In a new post on X by leaker @Haze2K1, it looks like MSI's new Claw gaming handheld will be powered by AMD's unannounced, but upcoming Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme APU, the best of its upcoming Ryzen Z2 family of chips based on Zen 5 + RDNA 3.5 and an XDNA 2-based NPU for AI workloads (if you thought handhelds were safe from AI, you were wrong).

• Read more: AMD reportedly planning Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme APU for gaming handhelds

As for the new APUs, AMD is reportedly working on the new Ryzen Z2, Ryzen Z2 A, Ryzen Z2 Go, Ryzen Z2 Extreme, and Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme APUs that will take the gaming handheld processor battle to Intel and its Core Ultra 200V "Lunar Lake" series of processors.

Each of the Ryzen Z2 series APUs will have a mix of Zen 3, Zen 4, or Zen 5 processor cores with integrated GPUs that range between RDNA 2, RDNA 3, and RDNA 3.5. The flagship Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme APU will reportedly feature Strix Point silicon with up to 8 cores, and 16 threads of Zen 5/c cores, and up to 16 cores of RDNA 3.5-based GPU... and we can't miss out on that XDNA 2-based NPU for AI workloads.

It seems that AMD's purported Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme APU will be the only processor in the Z2 series to feature an NPU for AI workloads, but we could expect one of them -- the Ryzen Z2 A -- to have some form of AI functionality. Strix Point APUs ship with their NPU chips in-tact, but AMD disables them for gaming handhelds... but it appears it's back on the table the Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme.