Denied! AMD has refuted a recent report claiming its Zen 3-based Ryzen 4000 desktop processors wouldn't arrive in 2020. The company has repeatedly promised that we'd see the CPUs hit the market this year, but constant rumors and the release of the Ryzen 3000XT refresh have suggested otherwise.
Earlier this week, a report from DigiTimes, which doesn't have the best record when it comes to these sort of rumors, stated that AMD's Ryzen 4000 desktop processors would launch in 2021 rather than this year. The alleged reason? Team red's 3000 series is doing so well right now, especially when it comes to challenging Intel's new 10th-gen Comet Lake processors, the company can hold back on launching a new chip architecture.
More possible evidence that AMD wasn't planning a Ryzen 4000 launch this year was the announcement of the Ryzen 3000XT desktop CPUs. It does seem strange that it would launch a refresh of the popular 3000 series just months before a new generation of processors arrive.
We did state that DigiTimes' report seemed sketchy, especially as AMD has repeatedly said Zen 3 would launch before 2020 is out. Now, the firm has reiterated its stance: "AMD confirms that the rumor on 'Zen 3' delay is inaccurate," it said during a press briefing.
AMD's own roadmap shows its Milan chips arriving in 2020. That's led some to speculate that these Epyc CPUs might be the first Zen 3 products, with the Ryzen 4000 desktop variants launching in 2021. Again, though, this seems highly unlikely.
A company repeatedly promising something and failing to deliver wouldn't be a new phenomenon, and Covid-19 could always cause more disruption to AMD's plans. Still, it would be a big surprise if we didn't see the Ryzen 4000 desktop CPUs within the next six months.