Valve has repeatedly made it clear that a Steam Deck 2 is part of its plans (it hasn’t committed to an official name), but the company isn’t interested in releasing a new handheld just for a small performance improvement. Instead, Valve has been waiting for hardware that can deliver a proper generational leap while still making sense in terms of power consumption and price.

A new leak may have now provided the first hint at the hardware Valve could be considering. According to information shared by Moore’s Law Is Dead, a mysterious AMD semi-custom APU called “Gainsborough” has reportedly appeared in AMD documentation and drivers. The chip hasn’t been confirmed as Steam Deck 2 hardware, but there are some interesting reasons why it is being linked to Valve’s next handheld.

Next-gen Steam Deck could use 3nm process

The biggest clue is the codename. The original Steam Deck’s custom AMD APU is called Aerith, while Aerith Gainsborough is the full name of the Final Fantasy VII character. Gainsborough is also reportedly a semi-custom design rather than a chip intended for regular laptops, which further adds to the speculation that it could be designed for a device such as the Steam Deck 2.

The leaked APU is said to be manufactured using TSMC’s N3P 3nm process, while possible specifications include between four and eight Zen 6C CPU cores and between 12 and 24 RDNA 5 compute units. However, these specifications remain unconfirmed, and Valve reportedly hasn’t even finalized whether it will use this architecture or wait for something newer. The Steam Deck LCD uses a 7nm process, while the OLED model dropped this down to a small 6nm node, improving energy efficiency.

If Gainsborough does end up powering the Steam Deck 2, it would represent a significant upgrade over the original handheld. The first Steam Deck uses a four-core Zen 2 CPU alongside an RDNA 2 GPU with eight compute units, so moving to Zen 6 and RDNA 5 would bring several generations of architectural improvements on both sides.

Moore’s Law Is Dead also pointed towards a potential release window for the next-gen handheld. There’s no reason to expect a Steam Deck sequel incredibly soon, and the leaker suggests it will “almost certainly be launching in late 2027 or at some point in 2028.” RAM and SSD shortages caused havoc with Steam Frame and Steam Machine prices, so it makes sense to wait for it all to blow over, to a certain extent.

About the Author

Abdul Haddi

Abdul is a tech writer and Editor for PC Guide, specializing in all things tech, gaming, and hardware.