AMD loves to keep its CPU sockets around for a long time. This makes life easier for consumers, as it makes it possible to do generational upgrades when new CPUs release without needing an entire new platform. There are still no guarantees that the current AM5 socket will support the upcoming Zen 6 chips, but a recent release from Asus seems to suggest it is quite likely.
Official marketing materials for the new B850M AYW Gaming OC motherboard board from Asus appear to confirm that the board is future-proofed with support for Zen 6 chips. The product description includes expected details such as Ryzen 9000 compatibility, and support for DDR5-9600 MT/s memory. Buried amongst the other details was information that the board included 64MB of BIOS capacity that is labelled as ready for Zen 6. Since this motherboard uses the AM5 CPU socket, this suggests Zen 6 chips will be compatible with this socket.
With only a small space to store BIOS information, many motherboards lose the ability to support older models when the BIOS is upgraded to support new CPUs. This larger BIOS allows more information to be stored, so the motherboard can support a larger range of CPUs without the need to strip support for older chips.
Little has been officially released regarding the Zen 6 architecture so far, but what we do know suggests it will use a chiplet layout, and each CCD chiplet will be able to handle up to 12 cores. This can be compared to the Zen 5 architecture, which uses an 8-core per chiplet design. Zen 6 is not expected to launch until 2026 at the earliest.
AMD has also not officially confirmed that the AM5 CPU socket will support Zen 6 chips, however it has confirmed plans to support AM5 for at least as long as AM4. The AM4 socket is now in its ninth year of support, with a new compatible CPU released only a few months ago.
With mention of Zen 6 appearing in marketing materials from board partners, an official reveal might not be too far off.
