AMD Says Sixth‑Gen EPYC 'Venice' on Track for Launch Later in 2026

AMD said its sixth-generation EPYC “Venice” server processor remains on track to launch later in 2026, reaffirming plans to bring a chip based on its Zen 6 architecture and TSMC’s 2-nanometer manufacturing process to market this year. On AMD’s May 5 first-quarter 2026 earnings call, CEO Lisa Su also pointed to Venice as a flagship part for cloud, enterprise and artificial intelligence workloads. AMD’s own presentation materials list Venice at up to 256 cores.

Those same AMD materials say Venice is projected to deliver “1.7x Gen vs. Gen Performance,” or about a 70% generation-over-generation increase. AMD describes those figures as engineering projections that are subject to change, not independently verified benchmark results. The company also says Venice will be its first EPYC processor built on TSMC’s 2-nanometer process technology.

The schedule update came as AMD highlighted continued momentum in its server and AI businesses. The company said its Data Center segment generated $5.8 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2026, up 57% from a year earlier. That growth helps explain why Venice figured prominently in the call, as server processors and AI accelerators have become central to demand from cloud providers and other large-scale computing customers.

Venice itself is not new. AMD had already previewed the processor family in materials tied to its June 12, 2025, “Advancing AI” event. What changed this week was Su’s public confirmation on the earnings call that the launch timing still holds for later this year.

The chip will succeed AMD’s current fifth-generation EPYC lineup, code-named Turin, which launched in October 2024 and topped out at up to 192 cores. That makes the planned move to 256 cores a notable jump in maximum core count, at least based on AMD’s current projections.

On the call, Su said, “Looking ahead, our sixth-gen EPYC Venice processor built on our Zen 6 architecture and 2-nanometer process technology is designed to extend our leadership across cloud, enterprise and AI workloads.”

That framing is consistent with how AMD has been positioning Venice since last year: as a next-generation server CPU aimed at the parts of the market where demand for more compute power is being driven by cloud services, enterprise data centers and AI infrastructure. For now, the key update is that AMD says the launch remains on schedule for later in 2026, with the previously previewed 256-core design and performance targets still part of its plan.