Intel and Qualcomm are both coming to CES 2026, beating the drum hard for their next-gen lightweight laptop CPUs. Meanwhile, AMD is slipping into the party through the back door with its usual laid-back swagger, showcasing a range of new CPUs for laptops, desktops, and gaming-specific devices. The first on the list is the AMD Ryzen AI 400 series that you’ll find in a metric ton of laptops at this year’s showcase.
The AI 400 series, like 2024’s 300 series, is designed to power this generation of Copilot+ PCs. They’re running on Zen 5 CPU microarchitecture and top out with a Ryzen AI 9 HX 475 with a 12-core, 24-thread configuration. The CPU hits a 5.2GHz boost clock, and AMD promised this CPU should be slightly better at multitasking than the previous generation. The new chip’s GPU isn’t packing any of the most recent RDNA 4 GPU architecture (which means no official access to AMD’s Redstone upscaler), but instead includes 16 RDNA 3.5 GPU cores with a 3.1 GHz boost clock.
The highest-end CPU also comes with an NPU that hits 60 TOPS, which stands for trillions of operations per second. It’s a derived value that only vaguely approximates AI processing capabilities, so you really shouldn’t spend too much time comparing it to the Qualcomm Snapdragon X2’s 80 TOPS NPU. Most chips you’ll see in laptops will max out with the Ryzen AI 7 450, an 8-core CPU with a 5.1GHz clock speed and 24MB cache with only a 50 TOPS NPU.
Overall, it’s a subdued update to one of AMD’s most prevalent CPUs. AMD promises these latest x86 chips will allow for “multi-day” battery life, though the exact numbers will depend on each laptop spec. We can already guess a majority of these chips will make their way inside this year’s slate of lightweight notebooks. However, the real dark horse of 2026 could be the Ryzen AI+ Max series. There are even more of the company’s high-end APUs (accelerated processing units) that are stressing GPU performance beyond what you normally expect from a single chip.
AMD’s latest Ryzen AI Max chips are dark horse gaming powerhouses
That includes the new Ryzen AI Max+ 392 and Max+ 388. The lower-end chip is an eight-core, 16-thread chip that also manages to pack in the 40 graphics compute units (AMD’s version of core clusters) found in the top-end Ryzen AI Max+ 395. We’ve had plenty of experience with that APU thanks to the Framework Desktop and other devices like the Asus ROG Flow Z13. The graphics capabilities of that chip proved extra enticing. That’s why I asked AMD if the 388 was engineered for gaming.
“The 388 is an eight-core chip that’s really targeted for gamers,” AMD’s senior VP of client business Rahul Tikoo told Gizmodo during a virtual briefing. AMD implied there will indeed be more gaming-related products featuring these (hopefully) cheaper Max chips throughout 2026. The APU could be an enticing prospect for handheld gaming PCs or other lightweight designs. We can’t help but imagine some kind of Steam Machine-like device running with these specs for gaming at 1440p and 4K.
As for high-end gaming desktops, AMD also has an update to what we already called the best CPU of 2025. Just as earlier leaks suggested, AMD is pushing an update to the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D with a Ryzen 7 9850X3D. The new chip uses the same layered 3D cache and eight-core Zen 5 CPU architecture, but it also has an upgraded 5.6GHz boost clock compared to 5.2GHz. That may not be such a major upgrade, though either way it will still likely be better than any other Intel- or AMD-made alternative for gaming.
AMD promises the 9850X3D pushes better performance in games upwards of 32% or 27% in titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, respectively. Is that so much better than the 9800X3D? Probably not, but if you’re looking for the best possible CPU for your gaming rig, it’ll probably be this one.
Gizmodo is on the ground in Las Vegas all week bringing you everything you need to know about the tech unveiled at CES 2026. You can follow our CES live blog here and find all our coverage here.
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