AMD has strengthened its position in the network, storage, and edge markets with the latest embedded processors based on the high-performance 'Zen 5' architecture, and is making a full-scale attack on the embedded market.

AMD announced its latest embedded processor, the '5th Generation AMD EPYC Embedded Processor (AMD EPYC™ Embedded)', at 'Embedded World' held in Nuremberg, Germany on the 11th.

The recently unveiled AMD EPYC Embedded 9005 series is based on the high-performance 'Zen 5' architecture and features optimized performance and long product life for network, storage, and industrial edge systems, as well as enhanced system resilience.

This processor is attracting attention from the industry as it will be the first to be installed in next-generation platforms such as those from Cisco and IBM.

AMD EPYC Embedded 9005 Series processors offer from 8 to 192 cores in a single socket, delivering exceptional performance for compute-intensive embedded applications.

In particular, some products with the 'Zen 5c' core have up to 1.3 times better power per watt than competing products. It records performance, supports up to 6TB of DDR5 memory, and up to 160 PCIe® Gen5 lanes via CXL® 2.0.

This has dramatically improved the data transfer speed of network and storage systems.

AMD claims that this processor delivers up to 1.6x more data processing performance than its predecessor, making it ideal for network firewalls, storage systems, and industrial control applications.

The 5th generation AMD EPYC embedded processors are notable for their enhanced longevity, system resiliency, and security. AMD provides up to seven years of manufacturing support for embedded products, and provides NTB (Non-Transparent Bridging) technology and DRAM flushing functions to minimize unexpected downtime of the system. In addition, it secures platform reliability through dual SPI and supports stable operation of embedded systems.

In particular, it supports the Yocto framework to enable customers to develop custom Linux distributions, and optimizes data processing performance of network and storage workloads by utilizing SPDK and DPDK.

AMD unveiled its new processors in collaboration with key industry partners including Cisco and IBM. Cisco said it has achieved scalability and performance that meets market demands by leveraging AMD's up to 192 cores in its firewall platform, while IBM said it has contributed to achieving high data availability and reliability in its storage systems.

“The AI and data-centric era requires greater performance and efficiency even in embedded platforms,” said Salil Raj, senior vice president and general manager, Adaptive and Embedded Computing, AMD. “AMD’s new processors enable our customers to design exceptional systems that excel in demanding ‘always-on’ environments.”

The AMD EPYC Embedded 9005 series is currently sampling and is scheduled to enter mass production in Q2 2025. The processors will be available in the SP5 socket form factor, which is backwards compatible with the previous generation AMD EPYC Embedded 9004 series, allowing customers to easily upgrade.