'Valve is on track to begin shipping its AMD-powered Steam Machine early this year': AMD's CEO says gaming PC remains on course — and I'm hopeful it could arrive in March

• AMD's CEO mentioned the Steam Machine in an earnings call
• Lisa Su said: "Valve is on track to begin shipping its AMD-powered Steam Machine early this year."
• This underlines what Valve has promised in the past in terms of an early-2026 arrival, and the device should hopefully debut in Q1

AMD's chief executive, Lisa Su, has told us that Valve is on course to release its Steam Machine early in 2026.

As Notebookcheck.net noticed, over on X Wario64 flagged up what the CEO had said during AMD's earnings call (following its Q4 fiscal report), as reported by Gamesbeat.

Su observed that: "From a product standpoint, Valve is on track to begin shipping its AMD-powered Steam Machine early this year."

She also mentioned that the next-gen Xbox is on target for a 2027 release, too, featuring an AMD chip as the engine inside.

If you recall, Valve promised that its compact living-room gaming PC would debut early in 2026, so Su is underlining that this is still the case for the Steam Machine.

Analysis: March it is, then?

So, apparently Valve still plans to launch the Steam Machine early this year, which could mean it arrives later this month, possibly, or in March. For me, the use of the word 'early' indicates Q1 of 2026, because once we move into Q2, that's technically not the beginning of the year anymore, although I guess you could argue that April is relatively early in the year at a pinch.

What makes me a bit hesitant about embracing the idea of an imminent arrival of the Steam Machine is the fact that we've heard little about it since the new year rolled in – rumors have gone pretty quiet. Still, there's not much more to know about the device, in fairness, except for that all-important price tag.

Speaking of which, you might also believe that the RAM crisis being in full swing now could give Valve pause for thought, as this is clearly going to make pitching said launch price a trickier business.

The value proposition is crucial here, sure enough, but what can Valve do about the RAM situation exactly? Nothing really (beyond what's already been done previously in terms of securing volume purchasing), and it's not like waiting for the RAM crisis to calm down is realistically an option. If anything, pricing is forecast to go up throughout this quarter, and the situation around the lean supply, and spiking pricing, with system memory may not change until next year – or even 2028 going by some assertions.

It's also interesting that Su uses the term 'shipping' in her quote, as in the Steam Machine will actually be going out to gamers within this timeframe, meaning that an announcement – and pre-orders going live before shipping starts – really could be due pretty soon. (Remember the Steam Deck handheld went on pre-order quite some time before it was shipped).

Obviously all this is just my guesswork, but the fact that Lisa Su has specifically mentioned that the release is still on course is definitely a good sign that we might see the Steam Machine launch happen in Q1, most likely next month. This is going to be a closely watched product, that's for sure, and it could be a pivotal moment to drive forward Valve's ambitions with PC gaming (and Linux to boot).

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