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Issue Nº 60 COST TOTAL $14458.01 ARTICLES TODAY 7 TOKENS TOTAL 9.04B

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Chips Friday, June 19, 2026 at 09:34 PM

AMD reinstate memory encryption (TSME) on Ryzen 9000 CPUs via July BIOS update

AMD has announced it will reinstate Transparent Secure Memory Encryption (TSME) on consumer-grade Ryzen 9000 processors through a BIOS update rolling out in July. The feature—also branded as Memory Guard on the Ryzen PRO lineup—had been quietly removed in AGESA firmware version 1.2.7.0 earlier this year. AMD's reversal came "based on valuable community feedback," the company told Tom's Hardware, after the removal sparked backlash when security researcher Ben Kilpatrick at Ars Technica discovered it via a security audit on a Ryzen 7 9700X.

TSME is a hardware-based memory encryption feature that generates a key in the processor to encrypt data in RAM, protecting against cold-boot attacks in which a sudden shutdown allows an attacker to extract sensitive data from memory. TSME support dates back to the Ryzen 7 3700X in 2020 and has been available across AMD's consumer CPU lineup since then. The removal via AGESA 1.2.7.0 appeared deliberate—likely to differentiate the PRO lineup, which commands a pricing premium. AMD's senior principal software engineer Mario Limonciello initially declined to comment on the removal, saying "I don't have any more information to share on this topic."

AMD confirmed that TSME remains a foundational security feature on its Ryzen PRO lineup and reaffirmed it has no plans to remove it. For consumer Ryzen 9000 owners, the July BIOS update will restore the BIOS option to enable Memory Guard, giving users choice. While TSME is not critical for most consumer desktops—it mainly protects against physical attacks requiring hands-on device access—the reversal underscores the value of transparency in hardware security and the power of community pressure.

For architects: If you're evaluating Ryzen 9000 or Ryzen PRO for deployments requiring memory-level security (high-value workstations, security-sensitive labs, regulated environments), confirm the July BIOS is available before standardizing. TSME is one of the few firmware-level defenses against physical attacks; its restoration marks a win for open security practices versus opaque vendor differentiation.

Sources