The rapidly growing AI PC category represents a new way to stay relevant for traditional CPU players Intel and AMD, while for Qualcomm, Nvidia, and MediaTek, Microsoft’s support This is also an opportunity to chip away at the x86 CPU monopoly market.
The PC CPU market is expected to be crowded, with AI computing giant Nvidia and Taiwanese chip design company MediaTek reportedly entering the field this year.
Although several reports have noted PC CPU development activity by both companies over the past few years, Intel and Arm executives have publicly stated that Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm will soon face more competition. I admit it.
(Related: Qualcomm ramps up global channel adoption to battle Intel, AMD in PC market)
“Everyone is so excited about the PC market that there are more competitors than ever before. There will be even more competitors entering the market in 2025, but we We have to stay on our toes and make sure we win,” Michelle Johnston Holthaus, one of Intel’s interim co-CEOs, said at an investor event. last month.
Those comments come months after Arm’s CEO made a similar proposal last year, saying the company would license Arm’s instruction set architecture and Arm-based chip designs to third parties such as Qualcomm and Apple to build its own CPUs. It is being developed.
CEO Rene Haas said in an interview with Reuters that Arm-based CPUs will pose a big challenge to x86-based CPUs from Intel and AMD in the coming years, thanks to Qualcomm and other companies entering the space. He said he expected to die. (This prediction apparently comes despite Arm’s legal dispute with Qualcomm, which ended in a mixed verdict in December and prompted the company to seek a new trial).
“I think Arm’s market share in Windows could really exceed 50% in the next five years,” Haas said in a June 2024 interview.
Multiple reports suggest new Arm-based chips for PCs could be coming from Nvidia and MediaTek. Both companies currently design Arm-based CPUs for other segments, with Nvidia focused on servers and edge computers and MediaTek focused on Chromebooks, smartphones, and smart devices.
For example, Reuters reported in June 2024 that MediaTek plans to introduce a series of Arm-based processors for Windows PCs near the end of this year.
According to a Reuters report, MediaTek’s chips are designed for Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC program, which began last June with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Expanded to x86 chips.
Separately, MediaTek is working with Nvidia to develop another Arm-based chip for Windows PCs, according to Reuters. According to other reports, this product line is also rumored for late 2025 and is expected to combine MediaTek CPUs and Nvidia GPUs on a system-on-chip.
Nvidia is also planning a standalone line of Arm-based chips using its own CPU and GPU designs for Windows PCs, Taiwan’s DigiTimes reported last October. The company could introduce the chip in September this year.
MediaTek and Nvidia are reportedly planning to enter the PC CPU market during what the vendors hope will be the biggest turning point for PCs in more than a decade.
Of course, I’m talking about AI PCs. A wide range of vendors, including Microsoft, AMD, Qualcomm, HP Inc., Dell Technologies, and Lenovo, are making the case for even more features as the next big thing in personal computing. More than a year.
These companies expect the surge in demand for AI applications, which have traditionally been primarily cloud-based, to create a need for AI applications that leverage the PC’s CPU, GPU, and NPU to improve responsiveness and privacy. Masu. Deliver personalization while reducing costs and unlocking new experiences.
Despite these lofty promises, as I wrote in a previous CRN opinion piece, vendors have yet to make definitive claims about the existence of AI PCs. This is primarily due to the slow rollout of new features and applications by Microsoft and others. , Apple and ISVs.
Microsoft was also forced to put the brakes on its flagship Recall feature for Copilot+ PCs due to security and privacy concerns. The feature was originally scheduled to be released last June, but was made available to members of the Windows Insider Community for testing in October after Microsoft introduced new safety measures.
But while there is a lack of widely available software that leverages AI PCs, Microsoft, Apple, and ISVs are releasing more applications and features that make a stronger case for this nascent category. Things may change this year as we prepare to do so.
With this forecast, research firms IDC and Gartner believe that AI PCs will grow rapidly and account for a significant portion, if not the majority, of personal computers shipped by vendors in the coming years. For example, IDC predicts that AI PC shipments will more than triple between 2024 and 2027, reaching 60% of total global PC shipments by the end of that period.
This is a new way for traditional CPU players Intel and AMD to remain relevant, while also giving Qualcomm, Nvidia and MediaTek a foothold in the market and chipping away at the x86 CPU monopoly. It’s also an opportunity.
The move to release CPUs for PCs comes as Nvidia seeks to own a larger share of compute by introducing its own Arm-based CPUs, which are tuned to work with GPUs to optimize system performance. This will reflect the data center strategy.
It’s worth noting that Nvidia has already done significant groundwork to enable and accelerate the development of AI PC applications that leverage RTX GPUs. For example, last June the company announced the Nvidia RTX AI Toolkit, which allows developers to customize, optimize, and deploy generated AI models on RTX AI PCs.
Meanwhile, MediaTek’s entry into the PC CPU market will represent a lateral expansion from the Arm-based CPUs it designed for Chromebooks.
Why Microsoft plays a big role in new CPU candidates
Another force likely driving Nvidia and MediaTek to release their own PC CPUs is none other than Microsoft, which has spent the past few years developing and enhancing Windows support for its Arm processors. yeah.
Microsoft is keen to counter the popularity of Apple’s Mac computers, which have been using custom Arm-based chips since 2020, by partnering with chip companies wherever possible to push the boundaries of performance, efficiency and new experiences. Showing interest. On Windows.
With the launch of the Copilot+ PC program in June, Qualcomm was in the right place at the right time to make all the difference. Meanwhile, Copilot+ functionality is not yet generally available on PCs with the latest x86 chips from Intel and AMD.
In other words, we’re so far removed from the days of the Windows/Intel partnership “Wintel” that we don’t even have the idea that Windows is synonymous with the x86 architecture. Microsoft is now approaching chip architecture with a more open mindset.
Microsoft and Qualcomm’s partnership works as part of a larger effort to bring Arm to Windows PCs, and CPU plans by Nvidia and MediaTek will bring more chip choices to enable innovative experiences. , which could further advance the tech giant’s plans.
