AMD announces it will use hybrid core architecture in Ryzen processors

AMD has confirmed that it will use hybrid architectures in its consumer-grade processors in the future, thus replacing single-type CPU cores like Intel with a combination of performance cores and efficiency cores. The company didn’t provide an exact timeline for this change, but confirmed that the new design will introduce differences not only in core density, but also in core type and how they’re configured.

Hybrid cores are coming to AMD

At the ITF World conference in Belgium, AMD CTO Mark Papermaster told Tom’s Hardware that this approach will blend high-performance cores with power-efficient cores. According to the executive, hybrid designs will be based on specific application needs, as the number of cores alone does not effectively serve customers with a variety of requirements. For example, when using office programs on laptops or surfing the Internet, powerful cores do not need to be running. A longer battery life can be achieved if the efficiency cores work for these tasks.

It is also noteworthy that this information comes after the artificial intelligence accelerator that AMD has included in the Ryzen 7040 ‘Phoenix’ APUs. In other consumer-grade Ryzen processors, AMD still uses uniform cores, but the Ryzen 7040 ‘Phoenix’ APUs will apparently be the first steps to change. On the other hand, hybrid kernel architectures have been used in the x86 space for several years. Intel began adopting this design with its Alder Lake processors in 2021.

Alder Lake was the first consumer-grade x86 CPU family to come with a combination of performance and efficiency cores to help improve power consumption. Performance cores came with higher clock speeds and hyperthreading, while efficiency cores had less power consumption, lower clock speeds and less chip space. The same idea is used by ARM to design smartphone SoCs.

AMD will use artificial intelligence in processor design

Papermaster also talked about AMD’s plans to integrate AI into the company’s chip design, testing and verification processes, saying the company is already using AI to improve performance and reduce energy consumption. Papermaster also confirmed that the company plans to use generative AI more extensively for chip design in the future.

Answering a question about whether generative artificial intelligence can one day design microarchitectures, Papermaster said that it is possible to build on existing designs in the future. But according to Papermaster, artificial intelligence will not replace designers for a long time, but will offer tremendous power to accelerate design.