We are still waiting to see if AMD's next CPU design, Zen 5, can live up to its high performance expectations (opens in new tab). In the meantime, however, we have received leaked information about the first Zen 6, which will replace AMD's future CPU architecture two generations later on 2nm silicon.

We also have a name for Zen 6, or at least its core: Morpheus. Incidentally, AMD's existing Zen 4 core used in Ryzen 7000 CPUs, including the new Ryzen 7 7800X3D, is codenamed Persephone, while the upcoming Zen 5 core is called Nirvana.

According to Tom's Hardware (opens in new tab), this "leak" is from an AMD engineer's Linkedin profile, now redacted to remove sensitive information, but for posterity, a screenshot (is that a word? ?) It was not before being.

The text of the Linkedin profile was quite detailed before it disappeared and put Zen 6 on 2nm production technology. This engineer also worked on the Zen 5, describing it as a 3nm CPU; AMD's public roadmap had previously indicated that the Zen 5 would be manufactured at both TSMC's 4nm and 3nm nodes.

This timeline is also interesting. The engineer worked on Zen 4 power management from March to December 2020, moved to Zen 5 from January 2021 to December 2022, and started on Zen 6 in January of this year.

In any case, it is interesting for any PC processor enthusiast to get a glimpse of AMD's CPU development timeline.

No official information is available as to when the Zen 6 CPUs will actually go on sale; Zen 5 is expected to arrive, probably early next year; if AMD maintains its usual two-year schedule for CPU releases, Zen 6 will appear in 2026.

Similarly, we have no direct insight into what to expect from Zen 6 in terms of performance. Again, after the giant leap that Zen 5 is rumored to bring, Zen 6 is expected to be a relatively modest update.

That would be consistent with past Zen releases, where Zen 2 was a modest tweak, Zen 3 a larger step, and Zen 4 a gentle overhaul of the previous architecture. Put another way, AMD seems to be making larger overhauls with each other generation of Zen.

If AMD sticks with this approach, Zen 6 probably won't be a radical leap beyond what Zen 5 brings. But all will become clear in time. Patience, O grasshopper, be patient.