AMD’s next-gen CPUs set to be Ryzen 9000 – and here’s another clue that Zen 5 launch could be imminent

AMD’s next-gen processors should be the Ryzen 9000 family, at least according to the details a motherboard manufacturer has spilled.

Gigabyte just published a press release online that specifically names AMD’s next-gen Zen 5 range as Ryzen 9000 – and not Ryzen 8000, the latter being another possibility aired on the rumor mill previously.

(Or Team Red could’ve changed up the entire naming scheme entirely – but that never seemed likely, and will doubtless be reserved for a time when the firm runs out of road with numbers, or there’s a huge change in CPU architecture that befits a new family name – or both of the above).

The Gigabyte press release, spotted by VideoCardz, states: “Gigabyte … a leading manufacturer of motherboards … released the latest AGESA 1.1.7.0 beta bios for the coming AMD Ryzen 9000 series processors boot-up support on Gigabyte AM5 X670, B650, A620 motherboards, and for present Ryzen 7000 and 8000 series processors as well.”

So, there you have it: Ryzen 9000 is the next stop for the Zen desktop CPU train.

Analysis: Third motherboard maker to prepare the ground for Zen 5

Of course, it’s possible that the author of this release at Gigabyte could have got something wrong, or made an assumption about the name – so add seasoning here – but that seems unlikely. This is an official announcement from Gigabyte, though it’s clearly jumping the gun – and it comes following a recent uptick in Zen 5 CPU rumors.

In short, it feels that with the speculation ramping up, Zen 5 chips are now imminent for the desktop, so the name is surely decided and cast in concrete – and Gigabyte has accidentally spilled it. (Or accidentally-on-purpose, so might argue, to grab a bit of limelight and coverage). It’s not the first time we’ve glimpsed a leak of the Ryzen 9000 name, either.

We should also bear in mind that both Asus and MSI have already updated firmware for their AM5 motherboards to support Zen 5, just as Gigabyte is doing here – although in this case, the vendors only mentioned ‘next-gen Ryzen’ rather than Ryzen 9000.

With all this preparatory work going on now, it looks very much like the rumored Q3 launch is on track, with a possible initial reveal at Computex 2024 in June. Ryzen 9000 CPUs could be out in July or August, possibly, which would be bad news for Intel, seeing as its desktop rival Arrow Lake processors are not expected to emerge until the very end of the year (and may not turn up in volume until early 2025).

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Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel – ‘I Know What You Did Last Supper’ – was published by Hachette UK in 2013).