Sony and AMD are teaming up on a bold new initiative — Project Amethyst — designed to significantly boost ray tracing, path tracing, and machine learning-based rendering in future gaming hardware. In a newly released nine-minute video, PlayStation architect Mark Cerny sits down with Jack Huynh, AMD’s Senior Vice President and GM of the Computing and Graphics Group, to discuss a set of emerging technologies that could redefine the next PlayStation console and AMD’s upcoming GPUs.
While these innovations currently exist only in simulations, Cerny explains that the goal is clear: deliver more efficient ray tracing, smarter upscaling, and better machine learning-driven visual enhancements than ever before.
Tackling AMD’s Ray Tracing Gap
Historically, AMD’s GPUs have lagged behind NVIDIA’s RTX cards in ray tracing performance — a weakness the company once tried to offset with stronger rasterization. That brute-force approach is no longer viable for today’s graphically demanding games. “Trying to brute force [ray tracing] with raw power alone just doesn’t scale,” Huynh admits.
AMD’s answer is a radical new GPU architecture that integrates two major hardware advancements: Neural Arrays and Radiance Cores.
Neural Arrays — Smarter Compute Collaboration
In older AMD GPUs, compute units worked independently, which suited traditional rendering but created inefficiencies in modern workloads like upscaling (FSR, Sony’s PSSR) and machine learning-assisted rendering. Neural Arrays change this paradigm by allowing compute units to collaborate and share data for larger portions of the frame.
Rather than linking the entire GPU — which would be impractical — AMD has developed a way for blocks of compute units to process substantial chunks of the screen in unison. The result? A “whole new level of machine learning performance” that can deliver faster, higher-quality upscaling and improved ray regeneration, rivaling NVIDIA’s DLSS Ray Reconstruction in producing sharper, more realistic lighting effects.
Radiance Cores — Dedicated Ray Tracing Powerhouses
If Neural Arrays enhance cooperation, Radiance Cores specialize in one thing: ray and path tracing. Much like NVIDIA’s RT cores, these fixed-function hardware blocks are built specifically to handle the complex math behind real-time light simulation. By shifting ray tracing duties away from general compute units, Radiance Cores free up GPU resources for shading and texture work, leading to faster rendering and improved efficiency.
Huynh calls it “a brand-new rendering approach for AMD” — one that could make ray-traced visuals not just prettier, but more practical for developers aiming at high framerates.
Universal Compression — More Bandwidth, Less Power
Beyond raw rendering power, Project Amethyst also targets efficiency. AMD and Sony are working on a Universal Compression system that expands on the PS5’s existing Delta Color Compression. By compressing virtually everything passing through the GPU’s pipeline, the technology could cut memory bandwidth requirements and lower power consumption — freeing developers to push visual fidelity without straining hardware limits.
The Road Ahead
Cerny emphasizes that these technologies are still in their infancy, but their potential is enormous. Enhanced ray-traced global illumination, intelligent upscaling, and more efficient rendering could transform the look and feel of future games, making worlds richer, lighting more lifelike, and performance smoother.
If Project Amethyst delivers on Sony and AMD’s vision, the next generation of PlayStation — and AMD GPUs — could mark a turning point for mainstream ray tracing performance, finally making high-end visual techniques more accessible without sacrificing framerate.
