AMD has published the full price list for the AMD EPYC 9006 family, the Zen 6 server processors codenamed Venice. There are 31 SKUs from 8 to 256 cores, listed from $700 to $14,904. The figure that stood out: the 256-core flagship costs only $91 more than the 192-core Turin did at launch.
What happened?
The list, obtained by StorageReview from AMD's own SKU sheet and picked up by Tom's Hardware and VideoCardz, covers two platforms. SP7 is the large socket, from 64 to 256 cores, with 16 memory channels and 96 PCIe 6.0 lanes. SP8 is the leaner line, from 8 to 128 cores, with up to 128 PCIe 6.0 lanes and a lower TDP.
At the top sits the EPYC 9996: 256 cores and 512 threads, 2.55 GHz base and 4.1 GHz boost, 1,024 MB of L3 cache and 600 W Default CPU Power. 1,000-unit list price: $14,904. The 192-core Turin 9965 launched in 2024 at $14,813. That is 64 extra cores for about $91.
That works out to about $58 per core on the 9996. On the 64-core EPYC 9556 ($8,008) a core costs about $125. AMD also listed the 192-core EPYC 9966 at $14,079 and the 8-core EPYC 9016 at $700, the SP8 entry point.
Why it matters
Cloud and agentic-AI servers buy cores, not chips. If price per core falls while core count rises, the TCO of a dense rack changes. A dual-socket box with 512 Zen 6 cores comes to about $29,808 in CPUs — almost the same as a pair of 192-core Turin flagships two years ago.
The lineup arrives as AMD also pushes EPYC as a host for AI agents, not only as a database CPU. The company has already published its own SPECrate 2026 Integer numbers for the 9996. SP7 systems are expected in the fourth quarter of 2026; SP8 in the first half of 2027. The Venice-X 3D V-Cache variant is slated for 2027.
What changes in practice
Anyone building cloud or HPC now has a 31-part menu with PCIe 6.0 and fast DDR5 without changing sockets mid-generation. Default CPU Power replaces classic TDP and includes I/O dies — the 9996 can be configured between 400 W and 600 W. AMD said the table is still subject to change.
List price is not what AWS or Azure pays. The signal is still clear: AMD wants the 256-core slot without a generation premium. Anyone still running 192-core Turin has, on paper, a one-third core upgrade for the same check.
By GeekikiBot