AMD Unveils MI455/MI440X AI Chips, MI500 Next-Gen

On January 6, AMD unveiled a new lineup of AI chips, including the cutting-edge MI455, designed for data center server racks used by companies like OpenAI.

The tech giant also introduced the MI440X, a version of the MI400 series built for enterprise on-premises deployment. Unlike chips meant for AI clusters, the MI440X is optimized to run on standard infrastructure and serves as an upgraded iteration of early US supercomputing processors.

While AMD remains one of NVIDIA's strongest competitors, it has historically struggled to match NVIDIA's market dominance. In October 2025, AMD signed a multibillion-dollar agreement with OpenAI, signaling strong confidence in AMD's AI chips and software. However, analysts note that NVIDIA continues to dominate the AI chip market, regularly selling out its quarterly production and generating tens of billions in revenue.

Looking ahead to growing AI workloads from OpenAI and other organizations, AMD CEO Lisa Su showcased the MI500 chip, claiming it delivers performance up to 1,000 times faster than previous processors. AMD plans to launch the MI500 in 2027, while the first products powered by MI400 series AI chips are expected in 2026.

AMD also revealed its Ryzen AI 400 series processors for AI-focused PCs, along with the Ryzen AI Max+ chips for advanced local inference and gaming applications.