Software innovation the key to realising the potential of the AI PC

Not surprisingly the AI PC was overshadowed by other telecom-related announcements at MWC Barcelona 2024, though Intel VP David Feng reiterated to Nikkei Asia that company plans to ship 100 million PC processors by the end of 2025.

This may sound like an impressive number, but with Nvidia claiming that over 100 million RTX AI PCs and workstations have already been shipped and AMD saying that millions of Ryzen AI-enabled PCs have been delivered to the market, Intel is still a long way behind its competitors in the segment.

Indeed, as Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Research, noted in his latest report on the Q4 GPU market, the biggest challenge Nvidia, AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm face in building momentum for the AI PC category is working with software developers to drive the creation of powerful new AI applications that take advantage of all the hardware acceleration features they provide in their platforms:

“The PC and CPU makers are introducing the so-called AI PC in the hopes of stimulating the market with a new shiny thing. We’ve had AI-capable PCs for over a decade and the issue has been (and still is), where is the AI they will accelerate? It’s coming, and early examples from Adobe, Microsoft, and the CAD suppliers are good examples. But it won’t hit mainstream everyday utilization probably until the end of the year at the earliest. Therefore, we suggest caution in one’s optimism and enthusiasm.”

Intel VP David Feng echoed the same theme with his comments to Nikkei Asia: “Now we are truly in the business of selling experiences. … I am describing something that can only be brought to life by software, so there is an increasing need for having collaborations with application developers.”

In other words, even as competition heats up in the AI PC hardware space, it is software innovation that is key to accelerating the growth of the entire segment. This is where all four silicon platform providers need to step up the investment of resources if the AI PC is to realise its potential.