AMD has announced a significant change to its naming convention for Ryzen CPUs, closely following Intel’s lead. The company is abandoning its traditional long product string in favor of a three-digit part number that includes the phrase “AI”. This shift is part of AMD’s effort to rebrand its Ryzen CPUs, with the goal of aligning itself with Intel’s recently introduced Meteor Lake CPUs.
The new naming scheme will start with the Strix Point CPUs, which incorporate the Zen 5 architecture. AMD has chosen to use the “Ryzen AI” branding to differentiate its processors, moving away from the traditional four-digit part number that notes the year released and architecture used. Instead, the company will use a three-digit part number to simplify things.
The 300 series will be the starting point for the new naming convention, with AMD stating that this is a “reset” on its naming strategy. While the new naming scheme breaks down into different performance tiers, the company is also using suffixes to indicate power consumption, with HX parts drawing the most power and HS parts being slightly more efficient.
Notably, AMD is still starting with the 300 series, which may seem counterintuitive given that the Strix Point represents the third generation of Ryzen AI. The company claims that this decision is due to the fact that both the Ryzen 7000 and 8000 series already have a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU) built in. This makes a direct comparison to Intel’s Meteor Lake CPUs a bit awkward.
AMD Renews Naming Strategy with Ryzen AI and Strix Point CPUs
The new naming scheme applies only to AMD’s mobile product stack, with the company choosing to maintain its traditional naming convention for desktop chips. This means that even if a desktop chip uses a Ryzen AI NPU, it will still be referred to by its traditional name.
While this change may seem significant, it is ultimately a positive development for AMD’s mobile product stack. The company’s previous naming convention was often confusing, with long strings of numbers making it difficult to quickly identify the performance characteristics of a particular CPU. The new naming scheme aims to clear up this confusion and make it easier for customers to choose the right CPU for their needs.
AMD’s decision to rebrand its Ryzen CPUs with a new naming scheme is a significant change that aims to simplify things and make it easier for customers to navigate the company’s product offerings. With the introduction of the Strix Point CPUs and the “Ryzen AI” branding, AMD is entering a new era of computing that prioritizes artificial intelligence and machine learning.
