The Dawn of Artificial Intelligence Laptops is Here

In the fast-paced realm of technology, where innovation knows no bounds, an era of artificial intelligence (AI) laptops is on the horizon. These new personal computers (PCs) represent a paradigm shift in modern technology, changing how many interact with everything from the World Wide Web to our daily lives.  

According to Edgewater Research’s analysts in their report, “4Q23 Electronic Components Industry Outlook,” 2025 will mark the real kickoff for AI PCs. However, AI laptops are already leaving their mark on the industry as new AI-capable component announcements filter in. At Computex 2024 in Taipei, chipmakers were all-in on AI, with Nvidia, AMD, Intel, and Microsoft taking center stage.  

AI laptops are poised to take over the PC world in the coming years. According to Statista, “The PC market is expected to observe rapid growth in the proportion of PCs capable of handling artificial intelligence (AI) directly on the device. The share of AI-capable PCs among total PC shipments is forecast to grow from 19% in 2024 to 60% by 2027.”

Likewise, global technology market analyst Canalys’ latest forecast predicts that “an estimated 48 million AI-capable PCs will ship worldwide in 2024, representing 18% of total PC shipments.”

This is the start of an incoming major market transition in which AI-capable PC shipments will surpass 100 million in 2025, representing 40% of all PC shipments. By 2028, that will grow to 205 million, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 44% between 2024 and 2028. This will be supported by integrating dedicated AI accelerators, such as Neural Processing Units (NPUs), which will further productivity, personalization, and power efficiency.  

The Rise of AI PCs

Personal computers are entering a new stage of evolution. Thanks to artificial intelligence, they can now understand, learn, and adapt to users' needs. AI laptops can use machine learning algorithms to enhance user experience, optimize performance, and personalize interactions.

With the aid of AI, laptops will be able to proactively assist users in completing tasks, use intelligence to assist in real-time language transition, adjust power consumption based on usage patterns, and more. Thanks to the popularity of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, interest exploded in everything from generative AI to large language models (LLMs). AI’s integration into electric vehicles (EVs), search engines, and even military applications has occurred rapidly, accelerated by the growing fascination with the capabilities of artificial intelligence.

PCs are quickly becoming the next frontier for AI’s expansion. The characteristics of an AI laptop versus a computer that can run AI applications include NPUs, discrete GPUs with AI-dedicated cores (tensor cores), and significant memory and storage capacities. AI laptops utilize a system-on-chip (SoC) integrated circuit at their core, ensuring lightning-fast communication between the computer’s “brain” and memory, which artificial intelligence requires. With heightened energy conservation, AI laptops can reduce battery and environmental strain with snappy SoC circuits and high bandwidth memory (HBM) supercharging AI responses.

What sets AI laptops apart is their ability to integrate computational power with artificial intelligence seamlessly. AI laptops can augment human capabilities to help streamline workflows and enhance creativity through intelligent content creation tools. These new capabilities will empower all industries, from AI-driven diagnostics in medicine to real-time decision-making within autonomous vehicles.

Nvidia, Intel, and AMD are the chipmakers behind the current AI laptop revolution. All three debuted their upcoming AI components at Computex Taipei 2024.  

The Top Chipmakers Driving the AI Rise

Arguably the reigning king of AI components, Nvidia’s groundbreaking graphics processing units (GPUs) are renowned for their parallel processing capabilities, vast software stack, and energy efficiency. Able to deliver leading performance for AI training and inference, Nvidia’s GPUs have powered popular generative AI models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT.  

Nvidia’s line of tensor cores, which cater to AI-related workloads specifically, enable mixed-precision computing for image recognition, natural language processing, and other tasks such as autonomous driving thanks to its dynamic adaption, which allows for accelerated throughput. At Computex, Nvidia revealed the newest addition to its portfolio, “Rubin,” the successor to its “Blackwell” model.

With a long history and expertise in semiconductor manufacturing, Intel announced its newest generation of Xeon processors as it races to catch up with Nvidia and AMD. Its new Xeon 6 processor promises better performance and power efficiency for high-intensity data center workloads. Intel’s innovative Xeon and Core processors are directly behind Intel’s newest AI PC line-up, with its Lunar Lake processors coming to AI laptops later this year.

At Computex, Intel released new details regarding its upcoming Lunar Lake processors “to continue to grow the AI PC category. The Lunar Lake chips, expected to ship in the third quarter, will compete against Nvidia’s and AMD’s chips specifically designed for AI PCs.”

Last year, AMD emerged as a formidable contender against Nvidia’s popular GPU line-up. With the debut of its powerful MI300X series, AMD was able to carve out a niche for itself in the AI market by providing powerful but affordable options. Similarly, AMD’s MI300X series offers a software package called ROCm that allows developers greater customization, like Nvidia’s CUDA.

AMD’s upcoming Ryzen processors will deliver exceptional multi-threaded performance and energy efficiency. The Ryzen AI 300 series will compete directly with Intel’s Lunar Lake processors and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X chips in next-generation AI laptops.

The Road Ahead: How to Monitor the Market Shifts

Every day, chipmakers continue to push the boundaries of AI with new advancements that will shape the future of computing. As the industry stands on the cusp of this new era, the electronic components market will experience new shifts and trends as demand fluctuates based on consumer demands.  

Most AI chipmakers, such as Nvidia and AMD, currently contract out the manufacturing process of their chips, mostly to chipmaking giant TSMC. Unfortunately, this can lead to constraints or bottlenecks when one manufacturer produces the lion’s share of one chip. TSMC currently produces 90% of advanced semiconductors worldwide, which AI components typically fall under.  

Last year, despite poor consumer demand and rising excess inventory levels, TSMC experienced bottlenecks for its advanced packaging after its capacity was booked out for components used in AI applications, including Nvidia’s GPUs.

Similarly, the rising threat of billion-dollar weather events or natural disasters, such as Taiwan’s recent 7.4 earthquake that damaged numerous fabs, and geopolitical instability could quickly derail market stability. With AI laptops redefining the possibilities of computing for consumers and enterprises, the growth of this sector alone is forecasted to be massive.  

To stay ahead of market fluctuations and proactively prepare for possible supply chain disruptions, it is necessary to use a market intelligence tool that leverages predictive analytics and unveils component risk. Sourceability’s market intelligence tool, Datalynq, provides supply chain visibility on an extensive library of components, alerting users to part vulnerabilities such as market and multi-source availability. With Datalynq’s risk scoring measurements, design engineers can accurately judge which components in a product design might need to be swapped out with another.

Datalynq’s premier intelligence has been integrated into Cadence’s OrCAD X Platform as Live BOM. Now, Cadence users can be alerted to design risks with Datalynq’s leading market intelligence. Want to learn more about Live BOM or start with Sourceability’s Datalynq? Contact our experts today for a demo.