Brief: AMD’s confirmation that it won’t prioritize competing with Nvidia’s top gaming GPUs with RDNA 4 graphics cards has left some unenthusiastic about the next-gen GPUs. However, according to CEO Lisa Su, they will be part of what she considers to be the strongest PC portfolio in the company’s history. Su also confirmed that RDNA 4 will launch early next year.

Many rumors claim that AMD will join Nvidia in revealing and launching its next-generation graphics cards at CES 2025. Although Su never named the event during the preparation Remarks to analysts during AMD’s Q3 2024 conference call, she said the company was “on track to launch the first RDNA 4 GPUs in early 2025.” This is the first time Team Red has given an official launch schedule.

In September, Jack Huynh, senior vice president and general manager of AMD’s Computing and Graphics Group, was request if AMD committed to competing with Nvidia in the high-end gaming card market. He said the priority was to focus on creating the best mid-range products, which make up the majority of the gaming card market.

Also read: AMD’s Navi 44 “RDNA 4” GPU package size could be much smaller than Navi 33

When asked directly if AMD would release RX 8000 series cards that are part of the enthusiast market, Huynh replied: “One day we can. But my priority right now is to build scale for AMD .”

All of RDNA4?

– sawtooth (@negativeonehero) April 23, 2024

Even though it looks like there won’t be any competition for Nvidia’s RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 cards, Su has confidence in AMD’s upcoming PC products. “I think the main point is, I mean, this is the strongest PC portfolio we’ve had in our history, I think, between desktops and laptops.”

Jean Hu, AMD’s CFO, revealed that AMD’s data center segment generated a record quarterly revenue of $3.5 billion, up 122% year-over-year. It accounted for just over half of the company’s total revenue in the third quarter, while gaming revenue was down at $462 million, down 69% from a year earlier. This drop is mainly due to a drop in revenue from console makers who use AMD GPUs in their machines, thereby reducing their inventories.

There has also been a drop in revenue for AMD card manufacturers and suppliers while waiting for the RDNA 4 cards to arrive. Su said that in addition to a big increase in gaming performance, RDNA 4 offers plotting performance significantly higher radii and adds new AI capabilities. This contradicts reports starting in March, claiming that RDNA 4 graphics will only receive a slight increase in ray tracing capabilities.

With AMD all but confirming its presence at the event, it looks like we’re going to have one of the most exciting CES shows in years. Nvidia has confirmed that Jensen Huang will deliver the CES keynote in January, marking the first time the CEO will appear at the event since 2019. This strongly suggests that the rumors of an RTX 5000 reveal in early January are also true.