A previously unknown AMD chip codename has surfaced in the company's graphics drivers, and the internet has already decided what it might power: Steam Deck 2.
The name is Gainsborough — which, as leakers Moore's Law is Dead and the site IT Home noted, is the surname of Aerith Gainsborough, the Final Fantasy VII character AMD used to name the chip inside the original Steam Deck. More suggestive still, the chip appears to be semi-custom, meaning it is designed for a specific customer, and it sits on TSMC's N3P process. IT Home reported that AMD has already been shipping test equipment for Gainsborough validation, hinting that a customer is evaluating the silicon.
Import records indicate the part will be modest in size: an FF6 package measuring 25mm by 25mm. That matches leaks from the tipster Gotou_3rd, who said AMD's next handheld chips, the Ryzen Z3 and Z3 Extreme, are also 25mm by 25mm parts, and published what appears to be a fragment of an AMD slide deck suggesting the Z3 targets a 15-watt envelope — the same power budget as the Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED.
Valve has been clear that a Steam Deck 2 needs a chip delivering a generational leap in performance and efficiency, and that it is still working out how and when to build one. The Gainsborough trail remains circumstantial: semi-custom designs do not always ship in the product they were first intended for, and none of the leaked evidence ties the codename to Valve specifically. Treat it as a promising lead, not a launch date.
