AMD to play protected at CES 2026, however it could nonetheless deserve your consideration

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For years, the Shopper Electronics Present (CES) has developed from a consumer-electronics showcase to a world premier launchpad for chipmakers, turning the occasion right into a key battleground for management in computing and AI {hardware}. The upcoming 2026 version is predicted to be no much less.

AMD has confirmed that President and CEO, Dr. Lisa Su will ship the opening keynote on January 5, outlining the corporate’s AI imaginative and prescient throughout cloud, enterprise, edge, and client units. Whereas we aren’t anticipating any main bulletins like a brand new GPU era or a shock Zen 6 tease (although we are able to nonetheless dream), count on some vital launches.

Let’s break down what’s doubtless, what’s rumored, and what’s pure wishful pondering.

New 3D V-cache chips

AMD has managed to seize a large chunk of the patron CPU market with its 3D V-Cache CPUs, and plainly the corporate has plans so as to add extra to its stock. The Ryzen 7 9850X3D is one chip that's prone to make an official look at CES 2026. The chip was unintentionally revealed by AMD itself via its personal driver pages, which itself hints that the CPU is prepared for launch.

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In a separate leak, it's claimed that the 9850X3D will characteristic 8-cores, 16 threads, with base clock speeds of 4.7GHz, and increase clock speeds of 5.6GHz. It would characteristic an analogous TDP of 120W with 96MB of L3 cache because the 9800X3D doubtlessly making it among the best CPUs for gaming.

Moreover there may be additionally the point out of a extra highly effective Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 CPU, that includes twin 3D V-Cache stacks for a complete of 192MB of L3 cache, and a 200W TDP. This might doubtlessly make it AMD’s strongest gaming CPU design ever, though these are simply mere rumors. Having mentioned that, this leaked SKU hasn’t surfaced wherever dependable, and AMD historically launches its mainstream X3D gaming chip earlier than any high-core-count variants.

Ryzen 9000G desktop APUs

Whereas the X3D vary of CPUs goal players, the Ryzen 9000G APUs may be AMD’s most significant CES launch for the mainstream desktop market. Current AGESA updates uncovered by information miners recommend that AMD could possibly be making ready new desktop APUs constructed on the identical Krackan and Strix Level silicon utilized in its newest cellular chips.

If that info holds true, the 9000G lineup would deliver collectively Zen 5 CPU cores, RDNA 3.5 graphics, improved AI/NPU capabilities, and native AM5 socket help, all in a single bundle.

This mix would make the 9000G collection particularly interesting for residence PCs, HTPCs, finances gaming rigs, and compact small-form-factor builds. AMD has persistently held a powerful lead within the built-in GPU house, and a Zen 5 + RDNA 3.5 APU on desktop might simply recreate the thrill of the Ryzen 7 5800G second, providing genuinely succesful gaming efficiency and not using a discrete GPU.

Nevertheless, expectations ought to be tempered. A dependable supply indicated earlier this 12 months that the Ryzen 9000G collection might merely be a refresh of the present Ryzen 8000G lineup, which means it will nonetheless be based mostly on the older Zen 4 structure somewhat than Zen 5. If that seems to be the case, the 9000G vary can be far much less thrilling than early leaks steered, and extra of an incremental replace than a real next-generation leap.

Ryzen AI 400 “Gorgon Level”

If there’s something AMD will push arduous at CES subsequent 12 months is AI PCs, largely as a result of your entire trade is transferring in that path whether or not anybody asks for it or not. That brings us to Ryzen AI 400, codenamed Gorgon Level, the subsequent step in AMD’s cellular roadmap. Till just lately, it was broadly assumed to be an easy refresh of Strix Level.

In accordance with leaked firm slides, Gorgon Level is predicted to characteristic as much as 12 Zen 5 CPU cores with a barely upgraded NPU, and RDNA 3.5 graphics somewhat than transferring to RDNA 4. This aligns Gorgon Level a lot nearer to Strix Level than lovers hoped.

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RDNA 3.5 is a refined, environment friendly structure however for handheld gaming PCs, which doubtless means solely incremental positive factors somewhat than a generational leap. Given how aggressive the hand-held market has change into, staying on RDNA 3.5 might really feel like a missed alternative.

The place AMD will probably be leaning in arduous is the AI story. With Microsoft pushing Copilot+ branding, Intel concentrating on 50+ TOPS NPUs with Panther Lake, and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chips already setting benchmarks for on-device AI, AMD must maintain tempo.

Count on a flood of designs together with ultrabooks, thin-and-lights, and premium creator laptops, that includes Ryzen AI 400 silicon throughout CES present flooring.

The AI Technique

Since Dr. Lisa Su’s keynote isn’t nearly client CPUs, AMD may also cowl a spread of AI-related subjects, together with datacenter AI acceleration, edge AI options, enterprise AI workflows, AI-optimized gaming {hardware}, and updates to the AI software program ecosystem. This complete focus will occupy a good portion of the keynote, which is smart as AMD goals to carve out extra space in opposition to Nvidia’s AI dominance, significantly in inference and cost-optimized deployments.

As for what lovers wish to see at CES, the wishlist is lengthy. A Zen 6 teaser would generate some apparent pleasure, but it’s nearly definitely too early for AMD to speak a few 2027 structure. The identical goes for RDNA 5 because the GPU panorama is unusually quiet proper now, and AMD appears much more centered on APUs and AI than pushing into next-gen Radeon territory.

Even the rumored dual-cache Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 feels unlikely for CES, regardless of the chatter. Until AMD has one thing unusually large tucked away, the most secure assumption is that we’ll solely see the extra mainstream X3D gaming chip for now.