CPU, APU & Chipsets

AMD has just announced that its next-gen EPYC processor codenamed "Venice" is the first HPC product in the industry to be taped out and brought up on TSMC's advanced 2nm (N2) process technology.

This announcement highlights the strength of AMD and TSMC semiconductor manufacturing partnership to co-optimize new design architectures with leading-edge process technology, with the stars of the show here being the new EPYC "Venice" CPU and 2nm (N2) process node tech.

AMD says that this news also marks a major step forward in the execution of the successful bring up and validation of its 5th Gen AMD EPYC CPU products at TSMC's new fabrication facility in Arizona, Texas, with the company adding "underscoring its commitment to US manufacturing".

Intel's Senior Principal Engineer in Core Design Ori Lempel has revealed the company is already working on the "great-grandchild" of Lion Cove, which will materialize into Griffin Cove.

We know the company has been suffering in its CPU division for many, many generations now, with the real issues kicking off around its 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" CPUs. But in a recent interview with Intel's Senior Principal Engineer in Core Design Ori Lempel and KitGuru, we're finding out more details of what Team Blue has up its sleeve in the form of Griffin Cove.

Lempel reiterated that Intel has finished its work with Cougar Cove, which will be used inside of its next-gen Panther Lake SoCs which are expected to ship in 2H 2025. It looks like the successor to Cougar Cove will be Griffin Cove, but nothing is official yet... we have heard in rumors from MLID that Griffin Cove would drop in 2027 and beyond with a "Unified Core" that eliminates E-Cores from the desktop CPU.

AMD has confirmed a flaw within its signature verification for microcode updates within Zen 1 to Zen 5 CPUs. This security flaw has been dubbed "EntrySign" and enables attackers to gain kernel-level access.

Last month, AMD confirmed the flaw impacts the first four generations of its Zen CPUs, which include everything from desktop processors to the company's server-based EPYC chips. Now, AMD has confirmed its latest Zen 5 generation is also affected by this security flaw. The crux of the problem can be traced back to AMD's signature verification for microcode updates, which are critical updates AMD rolls out to fix any bugs, improve the stability of the chip, optimize performance, or provide security fixes to vulnerabilities.

The typical order of process is that an operating system or firmware loads the microcode that AMD has signed off on as secure and safe by running it through its verification process, but EntrySign is a vulnerability that enables attackers with ring 0 or kernel-level access to bypass safeguards. What is reassuring is that AMD has already rolled out a fix for the vulnerability to motherboard vendors via the ComboAM5PI 1.2.0.3c AGESA update.

AMD is reportedly gearing up to add "AI" to the name of its new gaming handheld APU, with rumors of the new Ryzen Z2 family of processors seeing a flagship Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme APU.

In a new post on X by leaker Hoang Anh Phu, we're hearing that the Ryzen Z2, Ryzen Z2 A, Ryzen Z2 Go, Ryzen Z2 Extreme, and Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme APUs 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.

Intel has officially announced that its next-generation Core Ultra 300 series "Panther Lake" CPUs will be launching in 2H 2025, with a volume supply planned for early 2026, with the new processors made on its bleeding-edge in-house Intel 18A process node.

Intel's next-gen Panther Lake CPUs are the first to debut on its new 18A process node, which is a huge advancement over its previous-gen in-house Intel 3 process node. We have new packaging technologies including BSPDN (Backside Power Delivery) which will move the power delivery process to the backside of the wafer.

Panther Lake CPUs will feature new Cougar Cove P-Cores with Skymont E-Cores, with Intel expected to use 6 P-Cores and 8 E-Cores for mobile platforms, but the mobile GPU is the highlight here: new Xe3 "Celestial" GPU architecture that will reportedly feature up to 12 Xe3 GPU cores packaged in a chiplet standard, ready to compete against AMD's new RDNA 3.5-based Strix Point and Strix Halo APUs.

Intel announced that its bleeding-edge 18A process node has entered "risk production" and its mass production will begin shortly after.

At its recent Intel Vision 2025 event, the company announced that its in-house Intel 18A process node has entered risk production, and that mass production kicks off later this year. Risk production is the stage before mass production, usually involving a limited-scale production to see how the process and its manufacturability and performance are, before it goes into mass production for consumer markets.

The new Intel 18A process node will be first seen with the company's next-gen Core Ultra 300 series "Panther Lake" processors, where it will show off its new semiconductor manufacturing prowess against TSMC.

Apple is working on a next-generation M6 processor that will be found inside of a new iPad Pro in 2027, with a custom in-house C2 or C3 5G modem in 2027.

In a new post from Bloomberg insider Mark Gurman, we're learning that the new M5 processor will enter mass production in 2026 at its new factory in Houston, expected to debut inside of new iPad Pros and MacBook Pro laptops. Meanwhile, the future-gen M6 processor will feature a new in-house C2/C3 5G modem and be ready for release sometime in 2027.

Gurman writes: "Apple's M5 iPad Pro goes into advanced testing ahead of launch this year. The company is planning to make the iPad Pro one of the first devices to include the next-generation M5 chip. The new versions of that model, code-named J817, J818, J820 and J821, are in late testing within Apple and on track for production in the second half of this year. The company has also started early work on M6 versions with in-house modem chips, which are being targeted for 2027".

AMD is reportedly working on releasing its Strix Point APUs to the desktop, under the Ryzen 9000G branding according to the latest rumors.

AMD CEO Lisa Su was recently asked if we'd see the company's new flagship "Strix Halo" APU on the desktop, which she confirmed with "yes, yes, of course!" and now it seems that Strix Point on the desktop will come first with the Ryzen 9000G series APUs.

In a new post on X by leaker @9550pro, we're hearing that there is a new AM5 APU coming and that it should be release in Q4 2025. As it stands, the highest core/thread count we've had on an AMD APU has been 8 cores and 16 threads, but the newer Strix Point APU features 12 cores and 24 threads of Zen 5 processing power (and a far better integrated RDNA 3.5 GPU, and more).

AMD's next-generation consumer-focused Zen 6-based "Medusa Range" desktop CPUs, with new leaks teasing that AMD will be using TSMC's bleeding-edge N2X process node that is made for ultra-high clock speeds on CPUs.

In a video posted by leaker Moore's Law is Dead, we're hearing that "Medusa Range" will be AMD's next-gen Zen 6 desktop processor family, made on TSMC's new N2X process node, meaning AMD is skipping over the new N3 process node, and next-gen N2 process nodes, and right into the (warm arms) N2X node.

We are to expect up to dual TSMC N2X-fabbed CCD chiplets (Medusa Range is expected to feature 2 x 12-core Zen 6 CCDs for a total of 24 cores, 48 threads) with CPU clock speeds targeting a juicy and hype-building 6.0GHz+ and over. We should expect a "decent" integrated GPU, while another variant could arrive with weaker or no integrated GPU.

Intel's rumored to be preparing a fresh take on an Arrow Lake Refresh generation, so we might yet get new desktop CPUs from Team Blue later this year.

As VideoCardz picked up, one of the well-known hardware leakers on X, Jaykihn, posted to inform us that an Arrow Lake Refresh is seemingly back on the table (see above).

The leaker asserts that this new retake on the Core Ultra 200S chips will be different to the previously rumored refresh. (If you recall, speculation was rife about an Arrow Lake Refresh mid-2024, which Intel apparently cancelled).