AMD Launches 256-Core EPYC 9006 Venice Chips With PCIe 6.0 and Zen 6
Updated
Updated · ServeTheHome · Nov 10
AMD Launches 256-Core EPYC 9006 Venice Chips With PCIe 6.0 and Zen 6
3 articles · Updated · ServeTheHome · Nov 10
Summary
AMD’s EPYC 9006 “Venice” debut brings a new SP7 server platform led by the 256-core, 512-thread EPYC 9996, with PCIe 6.0, up to 16-channel DDR5-8000 memory and 8TB capacity.
The launch targets booming AI and agentic-server demand, pairing TSMC’s 2nm process with Zen 6 to lift core counts 33% from EPYC 9005’s 192-core ceiling while adding higher IPC and more than doubling memory bandwidth.
AMD also split the lineup for different workloads, including high-frequency parts and future variants such as Venice-X and LPDDR5X-based Verano; the flagship SP7 chips range from 64 to 256 cores and 300W to 600W.
One late change gave the 96-core EPYC 9686F a 5.3GHz boost, up from the 5.0GHz initially announced, while other SKUs kept prior specifications.
The release underpins AMD’s bid to pass 50% x86 server CPU revenue share after reaching 46%, as the company says data-center revenue is on track to top Intel’s in the fourth quarter.