AMD’s much-anticipated Ryzen 9000 series processors have hit a snag, with their launch now postponed due to what appears to be a surprising issue: typos on the chips themselves.
Reports suggest that the delay stems from a labeling error where CPUs were mistakenly engraved with incorrect model names. Instead of correctly marking a chip as a Ryzen 7 9700X, some units were wrongly labeled as Ryzen 9 9700X. Images shared on X by leaker HXL and verified by Tom’s Hardware show that even Ryzen 5 9600X chips were misbranded as Ryzen 9 models.
The Ryzen 9 designation is reserved for AMD’s high-end Zen 5 processors, including the Ryzen 9 9950X and 9900X. Originally slated for release on July 31, the launch has now been rescheduled to a staggered timeline, starting with Ryzen 5 and 7 models on August 8 and Ryzen 9 models on August 15.
While AMD has not officially confirmed this as the sole cause of the recall, their statement that the chips “did not meet our full quality expectations” suggests that the mislabeling issue might be a factor. There is speculation that the recall may involve more than just correcting typos, potentially hinting at other underlying issues.
In any case, if the only problem is a simple mislabeling, it might actually be good news, as it implies there are no deeper technical problems with the processors. Nevertheless, the lack of clarity and the unusual nature of the mistake leave room for further updates from AMD.
