AMD announced the new AM5 socket alongside the Ryzen 7000 Series processors that feature Zen 4 cores. With Zen 5 and the AMD Ryzen 9000 Series, AMD is continuing to stick with the same socket, supporting older boards as well as newer ones as they are released. But keeping AMD’s promise to support the AM5 socket until at least 2027, it appears that AMD CPUs with Zen 6 cores will also feature the same AM5 socket, slated for a late 2026 or early 2027 release.
AMD’s Commitment to Long-Term Compatibility
Following in the footsteps of AM4, which includes Zen, Zen 2, and Zen 3 cores with their respective Zen 2+ and Zen 3+ variants, AMD is going down the same path of including three core architectures with AM5. Although there is still quite a way to go and this is just a rumor, it is not surprising that AMD will extend the AM5 socket to Zen 6 cores to once again offer three generations under the same socket (from Zen 4 to Zen 6).
Even before the next AMD processors with Zen 6 cores, AMD is still planning to expand its range of processors with Zen 5 cores with more references, both for desktop and laptop computers. Meanwhile, Intel continues to offer two generations of cores with its socket; it has just released the Intel Arrow Lake with the new LGA1851 socket, while the next generation Panther Lake is expected with this same socket by the end of 2025 or beginning of 2026.
