HP Unveils AI PC Lineup for the First Time
NVIDIA and AMD CEOs Offer Positive Outlook on AI PCs
Shipments Expected to Soar to 55.4 Million Units This Year
Samsung, LG, and Other PC Makers Busy
PC Market Also Expected to Rebound
Global Finished PC Shipments to Reach 265.4 Million Units This Year
The stagnant PC market is experiencing a revival thanks to artificial intelligence (AI). Following Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, American company Hewlett-Packard (HP) has also entered the market by unveiling its first AI PC. Alongside HP's new product launch, CEOs of partner companies NVIDIA and AMD have expressed positive market outlooks, lending support. Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, described it as a "revolutionary change occurring for the first time in 30 years."
On the 7th (local time), HP unveiled its AI PC product lineup for the first time at the 'Amplify Partner Conference' (APC) held at the Venetian Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. The lineup includes the Elite and Pro series laptops with 11th generation processors and desktops with 8th and 9th generation processors. These PCs are equipped with Intel AI PC processors Core Ultra or AMD's next-generation Ryzen processors. They include a central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU), and a neural processing unit (NPU) dedicated to AI computations. Graphics performance has improved by 80% compared to the previous generation, and AI-powered video editing speed has more than doubled. Power consumption was also reduced by 38% when using AI collaboration tools.
At the event, Jensen Huang appeared as a speaker, and Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, participated via video call to support the PC revival. Jensen Huang described AI PCs as a "revolutionary change occurring for the first time in 30 years (since Windows 95)." He emphasized, "I have faced various forms of change as a CEO of an IT company for 31 years, and there is no doubt that PCs are the most influential means of acquiring knowledge." He added, "Accelerated computing technology, which improves work speed by adding hardware, has increased computer efficiency by 10 to 15 times. The data center modernization technology used to build generative AI can now be experienced on PCs. The great renaissance of PCs has begun."
Lisa Su also emphasized that "AI PCs will lower the barrier to use and contribute to the 'democratization' of artificial intelligence." She said, "AI is the most important 'mega trend' of the past half-century. People have heard about AI and know they should pay attention, but they don't actually know what to do." She continued, "The year 2024, when AI PCs will be widely adopted, is a crucial year for AI technology adoption. We need to communicate that AI increases productivity and enhances creativity in all areas."
AI PCs are characterized by dedicated AI accelerators, cores, NPUs, accelerated processing units (APUs), or tensor processing units designed to optimize and accelerate AI tasks on the device. They handle AI and generative AI workloads without relying on external or cloud servers, offering advantages in security, processing speed, and power consumption.
The AI PC market is expected to grow rapidly starting this year. According to market research firms IDC and Gartner, AI PC shipments this year are projected to reach up to 55.4 million units, accounting for about 22% of total PCs. IDC forecasts that by 2027, AI PC shipments will exceed 167 million units, more than three times this year's expected 50 million units. It is estimated that six out of ten PCs on the market in three years will be AI PCs.
Laptop manufacturers are quickly introducing next-generation products capable of AI computation. Samsung Electronics released the AI laptop 'Galaxy Book4' series in December last year. It is equipped with Intel's next-generation Core Ultra processor, which includes an NPU supporting AI tasks such as machine learning and deep learning. LG Electronics also equipped its 2024 LG Gram with next-generation AI processors. Additionally, it plans to enhance usability through on-device AI technology advancements, developing services that recognize user voice commands, translate and summarize documents or web pages, and perform searches automatically. LG Electronics is partnering with domestic startup Upstage to develop on-device-based sLLM. Other overseas manufacturers such as Dell, Lenovo, ASUS, Acer, and MSI are also competitively launching AI laptops. With Qualcomm planning to release the 'Snapdragon X Elite' processor for Windows PCs in the second half of this year, the market is expected to explode further.
An industry insider evaluated, "AI PC shipments will increase sharply this year, growing from a niche market to a mainstream market over the next few years."
The PC market, which had been stagnant for nearly two years, is also expected to rebound this year thanks to the AI boom. According to IDC, global finished PC shipments are projected to reach 265.4 million units this year, a 2% increase from 251.8 million units last year. PC shipments, which reached 350.1 million units in 2021, declined sharply for two consecutive years to 292.3 million units in 2022 and 251.8 million units in 2023. With the adoption of AI PCs this year, shipments are expected to grow at an average annual rate of 2.4%, reaching 292.2 million units by 2028.
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