AMD's Gainsborough APU rumoured for Steam Deck 2 with Zen 6 and RDNA 5

Valve's original Steam Deck launched over four years ago with no official announcement of a sequel until now. YouTube channel Moore's Law is Dead has reported that a rumoured AMD APU codenamed Gainsborough is likely to be the processor powering Steam Deck 2.

The codename carries significance. The original Deck's chip was called Aerith, named after the Final Fantasy 7 character. Aerith's surname is Gainsborough, making the naming convention consistent with Valve's approach.

According to the report, Gainsborough will be manufactured on TSMC's N3P node, an advanced and efficient variant of the N3 production process. The original Aerith chip used TSMC 7nm silicon, making N3P a substantial generational step forward. This manufacturing leap matters for handheld devices where battery efficiency directly impacts usability.

The rumoured specifications suggest Gainsborough will use AMD's next-generation Zen 6 CPU architecture and RDNA 5 GPU architecture. Both technologies are expected to appear in Microsoft and Sony's next-generation consoles and AMD's upcoming PC hardware. One reference point is the rumoured AMD "Canis" APU for the Sony PS6 handheld, which is said to feature four Zen 6c CPU cores, two Zen 6 low power cores, and 16 RDNA 5 GPU compute units with a 192-bit memory bus.

The original Steam Deck contains eight RDNA 2 GPU compute units. If Gainsborough doubles the compute unit count to 16 RDNA 5 units while boosting clock speeds, the performance jump could align with Valve's stated ambitions. Steam Deck designer Pierre-Loup Griffais said late last year that Valve wanted a "really major leap forward" rather than incremental improvements, stating the company was not interested in merely 20 to 50 percent performance gains at the same battery life.

Timing remains uncertain. Moore's Law is Dead suggests the Gainsborough chip itself should be ready in late 2025 or early 2028, though actual availability could extend further. Current industry challenges from AI-driven demand for memory and chips have already affected Valve's recent hardware launches. A later release would allow memory and chip markets time to stabilise before Valve manufactures Steam Deck 2 at scale.