AMD Introduces ‘Hawk Point’ Ryzen 8040 Series: Zen4 CPU, RDNA3 iGPU, and XDNA NPU

AMD has formally revealed its Hawk Point family of APUs at the Advancing AI Event today. This lineup succeeds the Phoenix Point series, extensively used in handhelds, laptops, and mini-PCs for the average consumer.

Hawk Point comes packed with Zen4 cores, an RDNA3-based iGPU, and an NPU using the XDNA architecture for AI Acceleration. In line with Team Red’s own naming scheme, Hawk Point comes under the Ryzen 8040 umbrella of APUs.

While not much different from its predecessor, AMD touts a remarkable increase in AI performance. This trend is expected to continue with XDNA2, planned for Strix Point next year.

AMD Hawk Point APU Lineup

Hawk Point features a total of 9 SKUs, demarcated into various categories. First, we have the Ryzen xx45HS lineup, then the xx40HS lineup, and lastly the xx40U lineup. The series number combined with the suffix can determine the cTDP as follows:

• xx45HS – 35-54W
• xx40HS – 20-30W
• xx40U – 15-30W

Ryzen 9 8040 Series

As such, the flagship Ryzen 9 8945HS boasts 8 cores / 16 threads and a boost clock of up to 5.2GHz. It packs the Radeon 780M iGPU, with a cTDP ranging from 35-54W. This is the only Ryzen 9 offering that arrives with Hawk Point.

Ryzen 7 8040 Series

Moving over to the Ryzen 7 family, we have the Ryzen 7 8845HS, 8840HS, and the 8840U, all with 8 cores and 16 threads. The boost frequency remains over the 5GHz threshold for all APUs. All 3 units use the same Radeon 780M iGPU.

Ryzen 5 8040 Series

From the Ryzen 5 segment, the Ryzen 5 8645HS, the Ryzen 8640HS, Ryzen 8640U, and Ryzen 8540U are equipped with 6 cores and 12 threads. The frequency hovers around the 5GHz mark, and these APUs utilize the slower Radeon 740M iGPU.

Ryzen 3 8040 Series

Lastly, there is the Ryzen 3 8440U with 4 cores and 8 threads clocked at a maximum of 4.7GHz. It is very important to note that both the Ryzen 5 8540U and the Ryzen 3 8440U do not feature an NPU. They are likely a refresh of Phoenix2, given their specifications.

Next-Gen AI Inference: XDNA2 Powered Strix Point Arriving in 2024

Hawk Point hosts a faster NPU than Phoenix Point, offering 16 TOPS, 60% more than last-gen. This nets AMD a 40% improvement across Llama 2 and Vision Models AI workloads.

In addition to Hawk Point, AMD went on stage to confirm that Strix Point is shipping in 2024. This matches previous rumors, although the Halo variant could still be planned for 2025. Anyhow, Strix Point uses the next-gen XDNA2 architecture for its NPU which triples the generative AI performance, presumably over Hawk Point.

Should we resort to leaks and rumors, MLID reported a while ago that Strix Point (Monolithic) features 45-50 TOPS of AI performance. That is over 3x faster than Hawk Point, and almost 5x faster than Phoenix Point. Here’s what we know about Strix Point (Monolithic) thus far:

• Monolithic Configuration
• 4x Zen5 + 8x Zen5C Cores
• 32MB of L3 Cache
• 64 AIE Tiles
• 45-50 TOPs of AI Performance
• RDNA 3.5 iGPU (16 CUs)
• XDNA2 NPU Architecture
• DDR5-5600 / LPDDR5X-8533 Memory Support
• 28-35W cTDP

Release Date

Hawk Point will be available across OEMs and laptop manufacturers in Q1 2024. Expect to hear more from AMD and the OEMs themselves at the upcoming CES next month. Stay tuned at Appuals for more information.

Source: AMD, SweClockers