Microsoft has been quite forthcoming with information about its upcoming console, but it probably wasn’t ready for its graphics source code to be leaked.
The Series X uses a custom GPU by AMD which supports ray-tracing. AMD’s current RDNA flagship, the Radeon RX 5700 XT, features 2,560 Stream Processors across 40 compute units. For comparison, the Series X has 3,328 Stream Processors spread across 52 compute units.
AMD will release high-end GPUs that are more powerful, and more expensive, than what’s being offered in the Series X this year. The company says that a hacker obtained source files for some of its current and future GPUs.
“In December 2019, we were contacted by someone who claimed to have test files related to a subset of our current and future graphics products, some of which were recently posted online, but have since been taken down,” said AMD in a statement.
One of the aforementioned future GPUs is destined for the Xbox Series X.
AMD says it’s filed multiple takedown requests to GitHub where repositories hosted stolen GPU code for future Navi 10, 21, and Arden hardware. Whether the fact GitHub is a Microsoft-owned platform has anything to do with it or not, the code containing details of the Series X GPU was taken down pretty quickly.
Of course, this isn’t the end of the matter. In an interview with TorrentFreak, the alleged hacker threatened to “just leak everything” if they’re unable to sell the information.
AMD doesn’t appear to be too concerned about the situation.
“While we are aware the perpetrator has additional files that have not been made public, we believe the stolen graphics IP is not core to the competitiveness or security of our graphics products,” says AMD. “We are not aware of the perpetrator possessing any other AMD IP.”
The company says it is currently working with law enforcement and other experts as part of a criminal investigation into the matter.
Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss subjects like this and sharing their use-cases? Attend the co-located 5G Expo, IoT Tech Expo, Blockchain Expo, AI & Big Data Expo, and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo World Series with upcoming events in Silicon Valley, London, and Amsterdam.
