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AI PCs: The Future Dominators of the PC Market
Yang Yuanqing, Chairman and CEO of Lenovo Group, predicts a future where AI PCs will dominate the PC market. He outlines five essential characteristics for AI PCs: the ability to run optimized large personal models, robust computing power for heterogeneous computing, ample storage for a personal knowledge base, seamless natural language interaction, and enhanced security and privacy features.
Huang Leping from Huatai Securities suggests that generative AI’s emergence will reshape the PC ecosystem, challenging the traditional Wintel (Windows + Intel) alliance that has been stable for four decades.
Image:Welcoming AI to the Microsoft Store on Windows.
AI PCs:The Evolving Landscape of AI Applications
AI terminal applications have burgeoned from 1-2 last year to hundreds this year, with projections reaching thousands by 2024, according to Qualcomm statistics. AI PC applications presently fall into six categories: text interaction, text generation, audio/image/video processing, cross-modal search, cross-modal generation, and collaborative optimization with application software.
However, AI PC applications are still in their infancy. Analysts identify three potential killer applications: knowledge quizzes connecting to enterprise/personal databases, image generation and processing tools, and AI personal assistants like Microsoft Copilot.
Killer App #1: Knowledge Q&A Based on Enterprise Knowledge Base
Enterprises’ stringent data privacy requirements drive the implementation of knowledge Q&A functions in AI PCs. This allows fine-tuning of basic models through internal data, linking with enterprise systems, ensuring data security, and providing generalized knowledge.
Killer App #2: Image Generation & Processing
AI PCs are expected to cater to user demands for image generation and processing, allowing tasks such as uploading local images for customized model training and secure image processing.
Killer App #3: AI Personal Assistant
Resembling Microsoft Copilot, an AI personal assistant can revolutionize human-computer interaction, leveraging a personalized local knowledge base, compressed individual models, and natural AI interaction for enhanced productivity and data security.
AI PCs:ARM Architecture’s Ascendance in Chips
Analysts foresee ARM-based CPUs claiming over 20% of the global PC chip market share in 2-3 years due to their low power consumption and high performance, aligning with the AI PC development trend. In 2022, Intel held 71.5%, AMD 16.2%, and ARM-based CPUs 11% of the PC market. Qualcomm’s ARM-based X Elite chip, launched in October 2023, is expected to bolster ARM’s position in the PC market.
AI PCs:AI’s Impact on PC Configuration and Replacement Cycles
AI application implementation raises performance expectations for PCs. Chip manufacturers like Qualcomm, Intel, and AMD are adapting with products optimized for AI PC scenarios. Analysts predict various computing power architecture solutions, including CPU+NPU, CPU+independent GPU, and CPU+NPU+independent GPU, coexisting to meet diverse AI workload demands.
As AI models gain prevalence, higher storage capacity and improved memory will be crucial for PC terminals. The growing penetration of large AI models will likely accelerate PC replacement cycles, as consumers and businesses strive to keep up with the evolving performance requirements of AI software. This marks a new era for PCs, transitioning from the internet stage to cloud-based mobile internet and now thriving on AI innovations.
