Speaking at the Communicopia+ Technology Conference AMD data centre boss Forrest Norrod called MI450 a “no asterisk generation” of GPU tech.

“We started with inference in the MI300 generation. We will systematically build out training capability in MI355, both on the silicon as well as the software side. It's all culminating in our MI450 generation, which we're launching next year, where that is, for us, our no asterisk generation, where we believe we are targeting having leadership performance across the board, any sort of AI workload, be it training or inference.”

Norrod compared MI450 to the company’s Zen 3 EPYC CPUs, which were the first to properly take the server market seriously.

“The third generation of EPYC CPUs is the one where we targeted having no excuses, where it was the best CPU for any x86 workload period full stop. We're trying to view and plan for MI450 to be the same.”

He promised MI450 would go toe to toe not only with Nvidia’s current Blackwell GPUs, but with Rubin too.

“We're going to be there at the same time as Vera Rubin, and we're going to be there with that part that's fully performing,” Norrod said.

The MI450 will never see the inside of a gaming rig, but AMD is pushing a unified UDNA architecture that will eventually merge its AI and gaming GPU lines. If that tech can keep pace with Rubin in AI, it might finally give Nvidia’s gaming cards a proper fight.

Norrod admitted that AMD’s miserable six per cent graphics share was nowhere near enough.

“We aspire to be a meaningful portion of the market. What that means is if you're not strongly into the double-digit percentage, say, 20 per cent of the market, you're not a meaningful player, and we certainly aspire to get to be a meaningful player as an intermediate step and then, of course, continue to grow over time.”

The MI450 is due “about a year from now,” according to Norrod, while gaming GPUs have their own roadmap. Whether AMD calls it UDNA or sticks with RDNA 5, punters will want to see those cards land in 2026. With Nvidia’s stranglehold on PC graphics, the world could use some competition.