Is AMD's Gainsborough chip the one Valve needs for Steam Deck 2?

A previously unknown chip codename, Gainsborough, has surfaced in AMD's latest drivers, as reported by leakers Moore's Law is Dead and IT Home. The name has sparked speculation about a potential Steam Deck 2 processor, since the original Steam Deck's chip was codenamed Aerith, a Final Fantasy VII character whose surname is Gainsborough.

IT Home reviewed import and export records and found that AMD has already been shipping test equipment for the Gainsborough chip, suggesting a potential customer is validating it for a device. The records also indicate the chip will be relatively compact, housed in a 25mm by 25mm FF6 package and built on TSMC's newer N3P process. Separately, another leaker revealed that AMD's upcoming handheld chips, the Ryzen Z3 and Z3 Extreme, will share that same 25mm by 25mm size, with the Z3 reportedly targeting a 15-watt power envelope — matching the current Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED.

Still, tying Gainsborough definitively to a Steam Deck 2 isn't straightforward. Semi-custom chips don't always end up in the device they were originally designed for — the original Steam Deck chip was reportedly first intended for a Magic Leap headset or a since-canceled Microsoft tablet. Additionally, the Final Fantasy-inspired codenames Aerith, Sephiroth, and Gainsborough were chosen by AMD, not Valve, according to Valve's own designers. And at 25mm by 25mm, the new chip is actually larger than the original Steam Deck chip's 19mm by 19mm size after it was later shrunk.

As of last month, Valve reportedly was still determining how and when to proceed with a Steam Deck 2, suggesting no final decision has been made yet — possibly out of caution following this year's hardware delays caused by RAM shortages.