Ryzen AI 300 Claims Lead in PC TOPS

AMD’s Strix Point processors for premium notebook PCs integrate a redesigned neural processing unit (NPU) capable of 50 trillion operations per second (TOPS), setting a new standard for AI computation among PC processors. The new Ryzen AI series devices also mark the first appearance of AMD’s Zen 5 CPU core, which boasts a 16% improvement in instructions per cycle (IPC) over Zen 4 due to improved data flow management and more parallelism. The Ryzen AI 300 series also features an upgraded GPU with as many as 16 compute units, a 25% increase compared to previous AMD processors in its class.

PC vendors and processor companies are optimistic that the momentum of AI among consumers will spur a larger bump in PC sales than has been typical over the past few years. AMD’s Ryzen AI 300 series of processors was one of several processors introduced at the recent Computex to coincide with this trend.

Microsoft set a threshold of 40 TOPS by a processor’s NPU to make it compatible with its highly anticipated Copilot+ on-device AI assistant. Qualcomm got the jump on AMD and its x86 processor rival Intel by announcing an Arm-based processor with an NPU capable of up to 45 TOPS that is integrated into Microsoft’s next-generation Surface Pro detachable tablet PC. Now, both AMD and Intel have now launched their next-generation processors for thin and light notebooks, including NPUs that exceed the 40 TOPS threshold. The NPU in the Ryzen AI 300 series processors delivers more TOPS than any other PC processor.

Ryzen AI 300 series processors are in production and already available in some notebooks being marketed by PC OEMs. AMD did not disclose pricing on the devices.