AMD’s China-specific Ryzen 7 7840H laptop processor removes AI capabilities

China's market is large enough to warrant optimised CPUs.

AMD Ryzen 7040HS

AMD’s premium laptop ambitions for 2023 revolve around the Ryzen 7040HS series that marry Zen 4 CPU smarts and RDNA 3 graphics in packages ranging from 35W to 54W. Club386 took a good look at the Razer Blade 14 a short while back, equipped with a Ryzen 9 7940HS, and it fared well. It’s now confirmed AMD is launching another processor in this segment. Ryzen 7 7840H is interesting insofar as it’s limited to the mass-volume Chinese market and does away with the baked-in AI technology present on regular Ryzen 7 7840HS.

Image credit: AMD

A peek at the in-depth specifications reveals no major surprises, other than a lack of AI processing that’s a standout feature in many chips from this generation. Putting our conjecturing hat on, this China-specific SKU may be a little cheaper to produce… and potentially gets around any security obstacles related to the adoption of AI.

Image credit: AMD

As you can see, standard Ryzen 7 7840HS, now available in a wide range of laptops from major players, has said AI capabilities in tow.

This is not the first time AMD has a China-optimised APU in its arsenal. There’s also the Ryzen 9 7940H, which differs from normal 7940HS by removing AI and also AMD’s EXPO memory technology. Strange, huh.