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[Caayn]

AMD isn't a stranger to longer socket lifetimes and socket compatibility. You could even use AM3 CPUs on motherboards with a AM2+, AM3 or AM3+ socket. They've confirmed that AM4 will also be a platform with long support. Whereas Intel has released five consumer sockets* in the last 8 to 9 years, and set to release another socket next year, rendering your existing motherboard useless if you want to upgrade your CPU.

When asked how long Zen would last, compared to Intel's two-year tick-tock cadence, Papermaster confirmed the four-year lifespan and tapped the table in front of him: ”We're not going tick-tock," he said. ”Zen is going to be tock, tock, tock."

Intel's tick-tock cadence has typically meant that it develops a new microarchitecture every two years, with Kaby Lake the exception. Though AMD has never taken the time to formalize it, a three- to four-year lifespan for its own CPU architectures is about average. For example, the K8 series architecture debuted with the Opteron and Athlon 64 in 2003; with 2007's mobile Sempron, the K8 trickled out. The K10 series lasted from about 2007 through 2010.

AMD's last Bulldozer architecture debuted in 2011 and persisted through the Piledriver, Steamroller, and Excavator updates. If Papermaster's words are to be taken literally, it seems AMD plans to iteratively improve its Ryzen chips through an additional three generations, about one per year.

AMD says its Zen CPU architecture is expected to last four years
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPByz-PtWkw&feature=youtu.be&t=127

*Not counting 2011(-3)