It is simply been confirmed that AMD CEO Lisa Su will probably be delivering a keynote at CES in January 2026, prompting a wave of hypothesis that she could possibly be about to carry the lid on AMD’s next-gen CPUs and GPUs. Lisa Su wasn’t a speaker at CES 2025, however AMD nonetheless launched the Ryzen 9 9950X3D there, whereas additionally confirming a number of particulars about its Radeon RX 9000 vary of GPUs. Does Su’s presence at CES 2026 signify a extra essential announcement? I am pulling my skeptical face.
With vital buzz about AMD Radeon RX 10090 XT (or no matter it finally ends up being referred to as) rumors, in addition to discuss of 24-core Zen 6 CPUs with excessive clock speeds, there’s the potential for Lisa Su to carry the lid on one thing huge right here. Nevertheless, I am very uncertain {that a} next-gen AMD CPU or GPU goes to be introduced – it is simply too early. The 9070 XT solely took its place on our greatest graphics card information earlier this yr, in spite of everything, and even Zen 5 will solely be 18 months previous by the point CES 2026 comes round.
Historically, we often see a minimum of a two-year hole between architectural generations, however I might like to be stunned, and the Shopper Expertise Affiliation (CTA), which runs CES, has additionally talked about “the developments pushed by Ryzen CPUs and Radeon graphics in AI PCs and gaming” in its assertion saying the keynote.
I do not assume we will see the official unveiling of RDNA 5 and Zen 6, however what we’d see (and “would possibly” is doing plenty of heavy lifting right here) is a teasing glimpse of what could possibly be in a few of this new tech – some mentions on a roadmap, options AMD expects to implement sooner or later, a demo of some new gaming graphics tech.
What’s extra doubtless, although, is that there is plenty of discuss AI, earlier than AMD broadcasts some new gaming merchandise based mostly on its current-gen tech. We may lastly get that 16-core AMD CPU with two 3D V-cache chips, giving it 128MB of V-cache, and a large complete of 192MB of L3 cache. AMD informed us it may make such a chip at CES 2025, even when it wasn’t doubtless, and whereas it could solely attraction to a selected area of interest, it could possibly be an incredible flagship gaming product.
Perhaps we’ll additionally see a brand new and improved GPUs based mostly on the RDNA 4 structure. Nvidia is anticipated to launch the brand new RTX 5070 Ti Tremendous on this timeframe, in addition to the 5070 Tremendous, leaving AMD at an obstacle on the subject of VRAM. There have been rumors of an AMD Radeon RX 9090 XT for some time, rising the VRAM to 32GB, and bumping up the clock speeds too, whereas sustaining the identical core GPU specs because the Radeon RX 9070 XT.
Whereas I stay uncertain, I might dearly like to be proved fallacious. Would not or not it’s nice if AMD all of the sudden dropped Zen 6 and RDNA 5 on us in January 2026, with the promise of merchandise popping out in the course of the yr? I do not assume it will occur, however I will be looking out for any hints of what could possibly be on the best way in Lisa Su’s keynote.
Within the meantime, take a look at our information to the perfect gaming CPU in the event you’re considering of upgrading your processor now, in addition to our greatest gaming motherboard shopping for information.
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