During recent Q4 2017 financial report, AMD confirmed that design for their next-gen Zen 2 cores is complete a ready for sampling in late 2018. This means that we may see the next generation Zen cores deployed by 2019.
AMD also confirms that Zen 2 Core Design is complete – Will be Available for Sampling Later in 2018
The AMD just completed their first generation Zen transition to consumer and server markets, they are already working on next-iteration which includes Zen+ and Zen 2. During these reports, AMD confirmed the Zen 2 design is complete and will start its sampling in late 2018.
Dr.Lisa Su, AMD’s CEO, also stated that they have completed milestones that were key in the development of their next generation Zen 2 based server platforms.
In the server market, we will continue to work closely with major cloud vendors and OEMs to ramp their first generation EPYC-based systems while also completing key development milestones on our next generation Zen 2 based server platforms. Our Zen 2 design is now complete and we will be sampling to our customers later this year. Dr.Lisa Su at AMD
What AMD means by next-generation Zen 2 based server platforms is the successor to Zen based EPYC processors. We know that EPYC is based on the first generation Zen core and that it remains one of the most impressive server chip offerings. The EPYC processors have disrupted the Intel x86 dominance in the server market and the recent security exploits (Meltdown / Spectre) will put even more pressure on Intel in the server market where customers may now be willing to shift to AMD’s beefy server offerings.
AMD 12nm Zen+ For Ryzen First and 7nm Zen 2 For Next-Gen EPYC Processors First
On this front, AMD has already stated that their Zen 2 cores (not Zen+) will address all potential Spectre exploits through implementing on-silicon changes. This shows that security is of utmost concerns to AMD and they are going to address them for their customers. This brings us to the next part of this story which confirms that AMD’s next-generation server processors or the EPYC successor will be the first CPU product to feature the 7nm process.
AMD’s desktop lines which include Ryzen and Ryzen Threadripper will be updated to Zen+ this year but they will have to wait a bit in 2018 to receive the Zen 2 treatment.
