AMD CEO suggests next-gen Xbox will launch in 2027—the premium console's chip is 'progressing well'

Microsoft is reportedly aiming for a 2027 launch for its next-gen Xbox, with AMD once again producing a semi-custom chip to power it.

In AMD's earnings call, CEO Dr. Lisa Su told analysts and investors that it is already well into development of the future Xbox console's SoC, noting the launch window in no uncertain terms.

"Development of Microsoft's next-gen Xbox featuring an AMD semi-custom SoC is progressing well to support a launch in 2027," (transcript, The Motley Fool).

AMD has been Microsoft's partner of choice for developing its Xbox hardware. The company's semi-custom unit has been responsible for every Xbox console since the Xbox One, including the recently released Xbox Ally X and Xbox Ally, if we're counting those re-badged handheld PCs as an Xbox—though I don't.

Microsoft president Sarah Bond had previously confirmed that the next-gen Xbox would be targeting the high-end market. In an interview with Mashable, Bond said it would be a "very premium, very high-end, curated experience."

That suggests that AMD will be bringing a powerful chip to the fore for the console. As we tend to see with console launches, they are announced with as yet unreleased hardware, but by the time they are released, PC hardware has caught up or isn't far off.

We know that AMD plans to release its next-gen Ryzen processors, using the Zen 6 architecture, later this year. That will be followed by Zen 7, which is confirmed but does not yet have a release window. It seems likely that Zen 7 will land just in time for Microsoft's suggested launch.

In terms of graphics, we're not expecting much movement in terms of a new GPU generation from AMD this year, with RDNA 5 potentially landing in 2027. So that appears likely to make its way into both the next-gen Xbox and next-gen PlayStation. Sony has been heavily involved in the development of semi-custom processors used in its consoles in the past—the Navi architecture, which later became RDNA, was reportedly heavily influenced by Sony.

Both Sony and Xbox use the same Zen 2/RDNA 2 architectures in their existing console lineup.

The big question will be whether these release windows shift, as the memory crisis continues or, let's hope not, deepens. Both Xbox and PlayStation increased the price of their existing consoles at the tail-end of 2025, and before we really saw prices skyrocket for memory. There is hope that some new capacity and newly-struck deals may alleviate some of the short supply seeing prices soar, however, AI appears top of the food chain, and may gobble up all it can get.

Last week, Microsoft announced its financial report for the most recent quarter, and noted that, despite bumper revenues, Xbox hardware revenues are down by 32%. Xbox content and services are also down 5%, attributing to an overall gaming revenue plummet of 9%. A drop in sales towards the end of a console's lifespan is to be expected, though at this rate, Xbox might have a shaky year ahead before the hot new thing arrives in 2027.

Dr. Lisa Su also confirmed that it would expect its semi-custom revenue to increase once the ramp up for the Xbox (and PlayStation, as noted in AMD's Form 10-K) occurs around 2027. Answering a question from an analyst on whether semi-custom will decline through 2026 as the console generation wanes, Su said:

"But as we ramp the new generation you would expect a reversal of that."

Though AMD does cite "improved semi-custom sales" for 2025 in its most recent earnings call. It does pump out a lot of what it considers semi-custom chips for handhelds right now, powering most of the popular options, including the Steam Deck. Speaking of which, AMD is also making a semi-custom GPU for the Steam Machine, which Su says is on track for early 2026.

In other news from AMD's earnings, the company is up 34% year-over-year in total revenue, earning $34.6 billion—a record, apparently. Client and gaming, all the bits we care about as gamers, earned $3.9 billion for the most recent quarter, up 37%. That's mostly down to Ryzen, though for the entire year AMD cites improved Radeon demand from its popular RX 9000-series cards for its helping hand.