The next-generation on-chip neural processing unit (NPU) architecture, called XDNA 2, was first mentioned by AMD in its announcement of mobile processors for the Ryzen 8040 series “Hawk Point” series. Above all, compared to the first generation XDNA NPU powering the Ryzen 7040 series “Phoenix” processor, the XDNA 2 NPU is anticipated to bring about a performance improvement of over three times. With AMD’s upcoming Ryzen “Strix Point” mobile processor, which the company plans to release in 2024, XDNA 2 makes its debut. AMD talks about a “over 3 times” performance improvement, so even though “Phoenix” offers 10 TOPS of NPU performance, this figure probably comes to 32 TOPS for “Strix Point.”

Faster “Zen 5” CPU cores, a potential increase in CPU core count to 12, and a much more potent iGPU based on the updated RDNA 3.5 graphics architecture are all expected to debut with the “Strix Point” mobile processor. Some SKUs are anticipated to have CU counts as high as 32 and are intended to compete with the iGPU of the Apple M3 Max processor. With the announcement of XDNA 2, we now know that in addition to “Zen 5” CPU cores and RDNA 3.5 iGPU, the NPU also receives an upgrade, potentially yielding 32 TOPS NPU performance.