AMD Instinct MI350 with upgraded 4nm process node and HBM3E may launch later this year

AMD plans to introduce upgraded versions of its Instinct MI300-series processors for AI and HPC in the second half of the year, according to market research firm TrendForce. The revamped Instinct MI350-series products are expected to adopt a more sophisticated process node as well as an upgraded memory configuration.

AMD’s Instinct MI350-series products will employ chiplets made on TSMC’s 4nm-class fabrication process, which is an enhanced version of TSMC’s 5nm-class technology, which is used to build CDNA 3 and Zen 4 chiplets for AMD’s Instinct MI300-series products. Using TSMC’s N4 production node will allow AMD to either increase performance or lower power consumption in its Instinct MI350-series processors compared to Instinct MI300-series processors. This is largely speculation for now. 

AMD’s chief technology officer Mark Papermaster said recently that the company was prepping Instinct MI300-series products with a revamped memory configuration. AMD currently has its Instinct MI300A, which has 128GB of memory using 8Hi HBM3 stacks, and the Instinct MI300X AI accelerators, which have 192GB of memory using 12Hi HBM3 stacks. AMD could potentially adopt 12Hi HBM3E stacks to increase the memory bandwidth and expand the memory capacity of the improved Instinct MI350-series products — but, again, this is speculation.

As demand for AI processors and accelerators is quickly increasing, developers such as AMD, Intel, and Nvidia have been feeling more confident about expanding their product lineup with refreshes.

Nvidia, the undisputed leader in the market of AI accelerators, was the first to refresh its existing compute GPU, the H100 80 GB, with the H200 141 GB HBM3E, which adopted HBM3E memory instead of HBM3, enabling customers to train larger LLMs.  

If the information from TrendForce is accurate, AMD also feels confident enough not only to add faster memory to its CDNA 3-based chiplets, but also to make these chiplets on a more advanced fabrication process (albeit, one that belongs to the same process design kit) to improve their performance potential. As a result, AMD’s Instinct MI350-series products will be considerably more competitive against Nvidia’s H200 than its Instinct M300 processors are. However, AMD will ship them after Nvidia’s H200 hits the market.