AMD has decided not to chase Nvidia in the race for the top GPU.
Instead, AMD’s focus is on expanding its market presence by aiming for a larger share, not just the speediest card. Jack Huynh, a senior vice president at AMD, explained this during an interview with Tom’s Hardware at IFA 2024. There are whispers that the RX-8000 series might not include a flagship model, but nothing has been confirmed by AMD. When asked about their strategy versus Nvidia, Huynh hinted at AMD’s past approach—letting Nvidia take the lead in high-end GPUs while AMD focuses on the mid to budget range where most buyers shop.
Huynh emphasized, “But my priority right now is to build scale for AMD. Because without scale right now, I can’t get the developers. If I tell developers, ‘I’m just going for 10% of the market share,’ they just say, ‘Jack, I wish you well, but we have to go with Nvidia.’ So, I have to show them a plan that says, ‘Hey, we can get to 40% market share with this strategy.’ Then they say, ‘I’m with you now, Jack. Now I’ll optimize on AMD.’ Once we get that, then we can go after the top.”
Earlier, Huynh talked about AMD’s work with Sony and Microsoft on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. He used these partnerships as proof that more affordable products can help gain market share. Nvidia, on the other hand, only supplies its Tegra ARM-based SoC to Nintendo for the Switch and hasn’t worked with Sony or Microsoft for their consoles yet.
Sometimes, we wonder if focusing on mid-range products is the right move for AMD.
Huynh shared, “We have this debate quite a bit at AMD, right? So the question I ask is, the PlayStation 5, do you think that’s hurting us? It’s $499. So, I ask, is it fun to go King of the Hill? Again, I’m looking for scale. Because when we get scale, then I bring developers with us,”
It’s still too soon to say if AMD will be making new consoles for Microsoft and Sony, but it looks like the RX-8000 series won’t be a direct rival to Nvidia’s RTX-50 series. AMD’s goal is to grow through mid-range and budget GPUs and selling more PS5 and Xbox Series consoles. They’re also entering the portable PC market, with the Z2 Extreme chip expected in 2025.
