Leak suggests AMD Zen 5 CPUs will be called Ryzen 9000

We still aren't sure of what naming scheme AMD might go for with its next-gen Zen 5 processors, but it appears to be the case that Team Red has plumped for Ryzen 9000.

Although we should make it clear that this is far from confirmation, but nonetheless, the sighting of the Ryzen 9000 family, made by leaker HXL on X (formerly Twitter), is a telling one. The Ryzen 9000 name is mentioned in an AMD chipset driver from ASUS.

This was the favorite choice between the potential options bandied about via the rumor mill, which were that AMD could stick with Ryzen 8000, but was more likely to switch to Ryzen 9000 (to make the distinction between the APUs and mobile CPUs already released with the former brand).

Furthermore, the timing lines up with what we're expecting from AMD's next-gen processors, namely a launch in Q3 - so preparation work for that release should be well underway now.

Mind you, the Q3 assertion also needs to be taken with its own pinch of seasoning, but the betting is very much on AMD's Zen 5 (Ryzen 9000) emerging before Intel can get Arrow Lake out of the door. And that will give Team Red a pretty commanding advantage, seeing as the new CPUs will then be up against Raptor Lake Refresh, which wasn't much of a generational step forward for Intel.