AMD has announced a new naming scheme for its future processors that looks a lot like the one Intel has been using for years starting with the Nehalem generation and then taking it to the Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge and Haswell families. The new AMD naming scheme will come into existence in 2016 and will be mentioned in its PIB product packaging, OEM specs sheets and on the product logo.
AMD’s new naming scheme will start with 6th generation since AMD counts its Stars, Bulldozer, Piledriver, Steamroller and Excavator as previous generations. Thus AMD will catch up with Intel in the numbers game since by the time the new AMD naming scheme arrives Intel will have its 6th generation of Core chips, called Skylake, after Nehalem, Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge, Haswell and Broadwell, which will arrive shortly. The reason for this marketing change at AMD is that it is easier for people to identify processors and platforms by generations and then purchase the appropriate parts for them. In addition the start at 6th generation will show the end user that AMD’s processors are not obsolete when compared to Intel’s so this is a pure marketing trick.
The first processors to use the new AMD naming will likely be based on the Zen architecture, which we discussed in detail earlier this week. Zen will come out in 2016 on 14 nm FinFET technology.
Source: AMD