AMD had its biggest quarter in history. According to Bitget News, first-quarter 2026 revenue increased 38% year-over-year to $10.25 billion, and the stock was up 16% in morning trading on May 6, according to TheStreet.
The engine behind those numbers is artificial intelligence. AMD's data center segment alone generated $5.8 billion in revenue, up 57% year over year, driven by demand for EPYC server processors and Instinct AI accelerators. According to Yahoo Finance, CEO Lisa Su called it an “outstanding first quarter driven by accelerating demand for AI infrastructure” and announced an agreement with Meta to deploy up to 6 gigawatts of Instinct GPUs across Meta's data centers, starting with custom MI450-based deployments.
According to Bitget News, AMD expects to generate approximately $11.2 billion in revenue in the second quarter, which would represent 46% year-over-year growth. This is the kind of guidance that makes NVIDIA look over its shoulder.
So what does this have to do with which console you buy next?
PS6 is built on AMD.
According to SolidAITech, Sony's PlayStation 6, currently codenamed “Orion” in leaks, is said to be relying on AMD across the board. The most reliable specs suggest that a custom AMD Zen 6 CPU combined with an RDNA 5 GPU will deliver about three times the PS5's rasterization performance and six to 12 times the ray tracing throughput, according to IBTimes. The memory is rumored to feature over 30GB of next-generation DDR7 RAM along with upgraded PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution.
According to IBTimes, Sony is also reportedly developing a handheld game codenamed “Project Canis” that could be released alongside the main console.
The point is that all the leaks place AMD silicon at the center of the PS6. The same Zen architecture and RDNA graphics pipeline that delivered AMD's record-breaking quarter are expected to power Sony's flagship products during the second half of 2010. AMD's success on the AI side directly funds R&D that ends up in console SoCs three years later.
This is good news for gamers. The more money AMD makes, the more it will have to invest in custom silicon for partners like Sony. The PS6's leap over the PS5 is expected to be bigger than the PS5's leap over the PS4. That's partly because AMD's architecture roadmap has been accelerated starting in 2020.
The next Xbox will likely also be AMD.
Microsoft has been quieter about its next-gen hardware plans, but the industry-wide assumption is that Xbox will stick with AMD. According to TechPowerUp, the Xbox Series Microsoft itself detailed how the Series
If anything, AMD's first quarter results strengthen Microsoft's case for sticking with Team Red. Moving to a mid-generation of competitors like Intel or NVIDIA means breaking compatibility with the entire Xbox One and Xbox Series libraries, which Microsoft has worked aggressively to maintain on Xbox Wire.
So when Microsoft eventually shows off its next Xbox, we expect to see another AMD logo on the box.
Problem: AI is eating up your console RAM supply.
This is where the celebrations get complicated. The same AI infrastructure boom that makes AMD's quarterly numbers look like science fiction is eating away at the world's supply of high-bandwidth memory. According to IBTimes Australia, over the past few months, several reports have pointed to a global RAM shortage directly related to AI data center deployments. Meta's 6-gigawatt Instinct deployment alone, announced during AMD's earnings call, represents a huge amount of memory.
That lack is now showing up in next-gen console rumors. According to IBTimes Australia, the PS6's initial 2027 launch target has been relaxed over the past few weeks, with internal reports pointing to a possible delay to 2028 or even 2029 if memory manufacturing is unable to meet both AI hyperscaler demand and consumer hardware requirements.
To put it simply, AMD's profits are great because hyperscalers can't get enough chips. Even the same hyperscaler cannot have enough RAM. Sony's PS6 needs RAM at a price point that gamers will pay and to launch in large numbers. Mathematics does not favor early release.
Switch 2 is an outlier
One note worth noting: The Nintendo Switch 2 does not use AMD silicon. According to Tom's Hardware, Nintendo announced in a press release on April 2 that the console, scheduled for release on June 5, 2025, is powered by a custom NVIDIA Tegra T239 chip – an octa-core ARM Cortex-A78C CPU paired with a 12-SM Ampere GPU boasting 1,536 CUDA cores. According to TechSpot, the Switch 2 supports DLSS and hardware ray tracing through NVIDIA's Tensor and RT Cores, delivering graphics performance roughly on par with the RTX 2050 mobile.
This means Nintendo is largely insulated from the AMD-dominated supply story. Consoles ship in bulk. According to CNBC and Fortune, Nintendo sold 5.82 million Switch 2 units by June 30, 2025, less than a month after launch, making it the company's fastest-selling system. Supply constraints are tied to NVIDIA's roadmap and Samsung's 8N process node, not AMD's data center fortunes.
If anything, Switch 2's chip selection is starting to look like a lucky hedge.
What this means for gamers
Strip away the financial jargon and the picture becomes simpler. AMD is in its strongest position financially, technologically and competitively, and its second quarter guidance of $11.2 billion represents a 46% increase year-over-year. This is a long-term win for PlayStation and Xbox, which will both benefit from continued investment in custom chip designs.
But in the short term, the same forces that are driving up AMD's stock price are also straining the supply chain needed to launch next-generation consoles. According to IBTimes Australia, the PS6 is unlikely to disappear from the roadmap. Sony is said to still be targeting holiday 2027, if circumstances allow. But the runway looks bumpier than it did six months ago.
The message to current gamers is simple: The next generation is coming. It will be built on AMD. And it will be more powerful than anything before. You may have to wait another year.
