AMD's Strix Point CPUs get a rebrand and 50 TOPS of NPU performance

(Image credit: AMD)

AMD announced the Ryzen AI 300 series processors at Computex in Taipei, Taiwan today. These next-gen AI laptop processors come with major NPU upgrades and access to Microsoft's new Copilot+ platform.

AMD revealed the Ryzen AI 300 series processors alongside the Ryzen 9000 "Granite Ridge" series desktop processors during a keynote at Computex. Intel, Nvidia, Qualcomm, and MediaTek are also expected to make major hardware and software announcements at the conference.

As part of the Copilot+ program, new laptops with the Ryzen AI 300 series chipsets will gain access to Windows 11 Recall, live captions, real-time translation, and Co-Creator. The new chips also offer up to 50 TOPS (trillions of operations per second) of NPU performance, giving them a leg up on Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus chipsets. Based on the specs, these are the AMD Strix Point processors we've been expecting, but they've been rebranded as the AMD Ryzen 300 series.

AMD Ryzen AI 300 laptops

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AMD Ryzen AI 300 series Asus laptops — (Image credit: AMD)

Along with the announcement of their new silicon, AMD has also given us a quick look at some laptops that will launch with the new Ryzen AI 300 processors with XDNA 2 NPUs.

These laptops include productivity, creator, and gaming laptops by Asus and MSI.

Asus Zenbook S16
Asus Vivobook S14
Asus Vivobook S15
Asus Vivobook S16
Asus ProArt P16
Asus ProArt PX13
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16
Asus TUF Gaming A14
Asus TUF Gaming A16
MSI Summit A16 AI+
MSI Prestige A16 AI+
MSI Stealth A16 AI+

The NPU arms race continues

Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus chips had the most TOPS of any AI CPU at their official unveiling earlier this year. The Intel Core Ultra chips offer 11 TOPS of NPU performance and 34 TOPS across NPU, CPU, and GPU. AMD's Hawk Point chipsets offer 16 TOPS of NPU performance and 39 TOPS across NPU, CPU, and GPU. With 45 TOPS of NPU performance, the Snapdragon X chips had the most AI processing power of all the AI chips to date.

However, AMD has closed that gap to overtake Qualcomm. But that lead isn't expected to last long, as Intel is expected to hit over 100 TOPS with the announcement of the Lunar Lake chipsets later this week. So the cycle of one-upmanship is likely to continue as long as AI PCs are still profitable.

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A former lab gremlin for Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, Tom's Hardware, and Tech Radar; Madeline has escaped the labs to join Laptop Mag as a Staff Writer. With over a decade of experience writing about tech and gaming, she may actually know a thing or two. Sometimes. When she isn't writing about the latest laptops and AI software, Madeline likes to throw herself into the ocean as a PADI scuba diving instructor and underwater photography enthusiast.