Sarah Bond, the president of Xbox at Microsoft, has officially revealed that AMD will power the next-generation Xbox hardware. This news comes as part of a broader multi-year agreement between the two companies to collaborate on custom silicon across a range of devices, with a strong emphasis on delivering improved visuals, gameplay, and AI features.
According to Bond, the upcoming console will not only support advanced graphical fidelity and immersive experiences, but it will also integrate AI in ways Microsoft has yet to fully explain. She also stressed that the future platform will remain open, not restricted to a single storefront or device. More importantly for existing Xbox gamers, Microsoft says full backward compatibility with current Xbox libraries will remain intact.
This continued partnership with AMD isn’t much of a surprise, considering AMD already powers both the Xbox Series X|S and Sony’s PlayStation 5. Still, by framing this as a co-engineering effort rather than just a component purchase, Microsoft appears to be signaling that the next Xbox will be more than just a standard generational bump.
The mention of AI is especially telling, given Microsoft’s current obsession with Copilot and other artificial intelligence initiatives. Whether this means on-device AI processing for gameplay enhancements or just more fluff around virtual assistants remains to be seen. Either way, it looks like Microsoft wants to inject the buzzword into its next-generation pitch.
For now, there’s no word on a release date, specs, or even the official name of the next Xbox, but this early tease confirms that Microsoft is not sitting still. It also raises questions about Sony’s next move, especially as AI and open ecosystems start becoming the battleground for console makers.
