In an conversation with AMD’s Jack Huynh (SVP & GM, Computing and Graphics Business Group), German publication Computerbase reported that the chipmaker has confirmed to launch its Zen 5 processor into mainstream laptops segment, codenamed “Krackan”.
AMD “Krackan”: Coming 2025
Krackan, also called Kraken Point at some point in development, is aimed to address the mainstream laptop market – think laptops that cost RM5,000 or less. It has been confirmed that Krackan will feature 4 Zen5 + 4 Zen5c cores, with its onboard graphics featuring a maximum of 8 Compute Units based on the RDNA3.5 architecture (which is half of the Radeon 890M found in the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 chip).
On the other hand, unconfirmed rumors also pointed out that the new lineup will be paired with a faster LPDDR5X-8000 RAM, along with a new NPU based on XDNA2 architecture. This should enables these chips with enough AI compute power to qualify as Copilot+ PCs, a branding made by Microsoft to certify PCs with AI capabilities.
It’s worth noting that AMD will likely be on the backfoot here, given that both Intel and Qualcomm has recently introduces its lineup that covers the majority of the product stack with Core Ultra 200V and Snapdragon X Plus, respectively. AMD currently only launched two Zen 5 laptop chips, the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and the Ryzen AI 9 365, both of which are meant to serve the premium laptop segment.
Pokdepinion: I guess CES 2025 is where we’ll see the new lineup, but by then they’re going to play catch-up against the other two chipmakers.
