AMD is gearing up to release its new Krackan APU, a powerful processor designed to bring cutting-edge AI capabilities to the $799 notebook market. The Krackan, expected to launch early 2025, is a significant departure from the recently released Ryzen AI 300 series “Strix Point” APUs. While Strix Point boasts a powerful 16 CUs of RDNA 3.5 GPU, Krackan will feature a more streamlined design with 8 cores of Zen 5 (4 x Zen 5 + 4 x Zen 5c) and a reduced 8 CUs of RDNA 3.5 GPU. This strategic shift allows AMD to target a broader market with a more budget-friendly offering.
Despite the streamlined design, Krackan won’t skimp on performance. It will still pack the powerful combination of Zen 5 CPU, RDNA 3.5 GPU, and XDNA 2 NPU, ensuring it’s primed for Copilot+ and other AI-powered workloads in 2025. With an impressive 45-50 TOPS (Tera Operations Per Second), Krackan is poised to compete head-to-head with Intel’s Lunar Lake and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X processors.
The need for a budget-friendly solution was highlighted by Jack Huynh, AMD’s head of the Ryzen and Radeon division. He explained, “Strix Point is available here and from some manufacturers, but these are all premium devices at correspondingly high prices. In order to reach the mass of the market, cheaper chips are needed.” This statement clearly signals AMD’s focus on making high-performance AI accessible to a broader audience.
We can anticipate AMD unveiling the Krackan APU at CES 2025 in January 2025, marking a significant step in the evolution of affordable AI-powered computing. Krackan promises to bring the power of Copilot+ and future AI workloads to a wider range of users, making it a game changer in the notebook market.
