AMD announces new AI PC, gaming chips at CES 2025
AMD (AMD) is showing off its latest AI PC and graphics chips at CES 2025 in Las Vegas. The company on Monday announced its new Ryzen AI Max, additional Ryzen AI 300, and Ryzen AI 200 central processing units (CPUs) for AI PCs, as well as high-powered chips for gaming desktops and laptops and handheld gaming systems.
The chips set up AMD to further compete with rivals Intel (INTC) and Qualcomm (QCOM) in the still nascent AI PC space and Intel on the desktop and mobile gaming fronts, two important markets for the semiconductor firm.
The Ryzen AI Max chips are designed for high-powered laptops targeting gamers and content creators. The company says they’ll feature up to 128GB of unified memory and a neural processing unit capable of up to 50 TOPS (trillions of operations per second).
TOPS are a general means of measuring a chip’s AI performance. AMD, Intel, Nvidia (NVDA), and Qualcomm are each pushing TOPS as the specification consumers should pay attention to when it comes to picking out AI PCs.
AMD says the Ryzen AI Max will also come in a PRO series that will feature AMD PRO capabilities including improved security and enterprise management functionality.
In addition to the AI Max, AMD also showed off its latest AI 300 and AI 300 Pro Series chips, including the Ryzen AI 7 350 and Ryzen AI 5 340. AMD says the chips are designed to run AI PCs for consumers and enterprise customers that don’t necessarily need the high-flying power of its AI Max processors.
Like AMD’s Max chips, however, the AI 300 and AI 300 Pros offer 50 TOPS of AI performance, meaning they can run things like Microsoft’s (MSFT) Copilot+ PC apps, including its Recall and Click to Do options, which allow you to take snapshots of your activity, quickly pick up where you left off, and take dynamic actions related to on-screen text and images.
AMD also debuted its Ryzen 200 and Ryzen 200 PRO Series chips for affordable consumer and enterprise laptops. Unlike the Ryzen AI Max and Ryzen AI 300 processors, however, the Ryzen 200 only offers 16 TOPS, which means they may not be able to run more advanced AI applications.
Beyond its AI PC CPUs, AMD also announced a slew of new gaming-focused CPUs for desktops, laptops, and handheld PCs. For hardcore PC gamers and content creators, there’s the Ryzen 9950X3D and Ryzen 9900X3D. Gamers looking for high-performance laptops get the new Ryzen 9000HX Series chips, which AMD says offer better temperature control, which can save on battery life.
Finally, the company revealed its Ryzen Z2 Series gaming chips for handheld gaming systems. Handheld PC systems are generally similar in size to Nintendo’s popular Switch console but run Windows or Linux-based operating systems and can play PC games.
