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| AMD ROCm 7.x offers significant performance boosts on AMD hardware ranging from Ryzen AI APUs to Instinct accelerators. |
LAS VEGAS – CES 2026 – In a strategic move to capture more of the red-hot AI development market, AMD today announced significant updates to its ROCm software platform, broadening support and chasing new performance peaks for creators and researchers.
For those building the next generation of AI tools, the software ecosystem is often just as critical as the hardware. For years, Nvidia’s CUDA has been the dominant force. AMD’s answer is ROCm (Radeon Open Compute Platform), a comprehensive, open-source stack of tools, libraries, and compilers designed to unlock the potential of AMD GPUs and APUs for complex computing tasks like AI training, scientific simulation, and data crunching.
"ROCm is about open access and high performance," said an AMD spokesperson during the briefing. "With ROCm 7.2, we're not just iterating; we're expanding the playground to include the latest silicon and delivering the speed that developers demand."
From Niche to Mainstream: Windows Support & Performance Leaps
The journey to this point has been marked by pivotal updates. ROCm 7.1 was a landmark release, finally bringing official support to Windows and delivering a staggering 5x generational performance uplift over version 6.4.4. Early adopters on Ryzen AI Max+ APUs saw massive gains, with AMD claiming 2.6x faster Stable Diffusion XL and 5.2x faster Flux S performance.
These gains translated into real-world creativity. Demonstrations showed ROCm 7.1 completing complex text-to-video prompts in tools like LTX Video 0.9 in as little as 3 minutes on APUs and 45 seconds on powerful Radeon AI Pro GPUs.
What’s New in ROCm 7.2: Broadening the Horizon
With ROCm 7.2, AMD is focusing on expansion and accessibility.
- Ryzen AI 400 APU Support: The headline feature is full support for the newly launched Ryzen AI 400 Series APUs across both Windows and Linux. This brings powerful, on-device AI acceleration to a much wider audience of developers and content creators using the latest laptops and desktops.
- Integrated ComfyUI Build: Recognizing the popularity of the modular ComfyUI workflow tool for AI image generation, AMD confirmed that a pre-integrated ComfyUI build with ROCm 7.2 will be available for direct download from ComfyUI.org, simplifying setup dramatically.
- Adrenalin Driver Synergy: The stack can be installed alongside the latest Adrenalin 26.1.1 drivers, allowing users to seamlessly switch between gaming and compute tasks without system conflicts.
Raw Power for Pro Workstations
For professionals with serious horsepower, ROCm 7 continues to optimize for the high-end Radeon AI Pro series. AMD cites up to a 5.4x faster performance in the demanding Wan 14b video generation model when using a Radeon AI Pro R9700 GPU with the new software stack.
This level of performance makes advanced AI video generation and large language model (LLM) experimentation more viable on AMD-powered workstations.
For developers and enthusiasts following the platform's evolution, the open-source nature of ROCm means progress is transparent. Community feedback on upcoming features and reported issues, like those tracked on the official ROCm GitHub repository, actively shapes the roadmap. You can see an example of this community-driven development in discussions like the one found here.
Getting Started with ROCm AI
For users looking to build a dedicated AI PC, the ecosystem is growing. The software advancements are complemented by powerful new hardware options available now.
Speaking of accessible hardware, a great entry point for a high-performance AI and gaming rig is a GPU like the Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 XT Gaming OC. With 16GB of fast memory and robust cooling, it's a solid contender for developers and creators wanting to experiment with ROCm's latest capabilities. Check current availability and pricing on Amazon.
The Bottom Line
AMD's aggressive updates to ROCm signal a clear commitment to challenging the established order in GPU-accelerated computing. By dramatically boosting performance, expanding support to mainstream Windows platforms and the latest APUs, and simplifying access through partnerships like the one with ComfyUI, AMD is lowering the barrier to entry for AI development on its platform.
ROCm 7.2 may not be the final word, but it’s a compelling statement that AMD is in the AI software race for the long haul. For developers and enterprises seeking an open-source alternative, the playground just got a lot more interesting.
