June 3, 2024
By Bob O'Donnell
In case there was any question about whether the AI PC phenomena was real, this year’s string of CEO keynotes here at Computex has put that issue to rest. Not only have Copilot+ PCs been a key element of every single presentation, but all the buzz and discussion around them has highlighted the fact that the entire computing industry—from component suppliers and ODMs (Original Device Manufacturers) to software developers and PC brands—hasn’t been this fired up about its future prospects in a very long time.
Nowhere was that trend more apparent than at Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon’s presentation—the fourth on the docket of major keynotes here in Taipei. As the sole chip supplier for the first round of Copilot+-compatible machines, Amon was eager to share the company’s enthusiasm for the category and for what he called the company’s “graduation” into being a true computing semiconductor company player.
Of course, long-time PC industry watchers know that this is actually the company’s third attempt at delivering an Arm-based processor for the PC market, but it’s clear now that this effort is completely different than previous ones. Not only has the company lined up a significantly larger and more impressive array of partners and system designs—many of which were trotted across the stage during the keynote—but the performance levels and software support is significantly better than it’s ever been.
In fact, looking back historically it’s now clear that Microsoft made the decision to not only more strongly support the new Snapdragon X Series than they did previous generations but to prioritize it over the x86-based alternatives from AMD and Intel. (The fact that even though Copilot+ compatible SOCs from AMD will be available in systems as early as July, they’ll only be considered Copilot+ “Ready” and need a software update that’s still months away—as discussed in Part 2 of this Computex Chronicles series—makes that point very clear.) While that decision has undoubtedly caused consternation among industry players—especially given how much larger the x86-based PC market has been and continues to be versus Arm-based alternatives—it’s a very strong statement for how important Microsoft has considered Qualcomm’s efforts on Snapdragon X Series to be.
Given all that, it’s clear that Qualcomm’s Amon wanted to emphasize the capabilities that Copilot+ PCs enable as a category. To that end, he offered a number of both current and future examples of what the devices could potentially do. Several digital agent-based demos were certainly intriguing—with the agent performing actions on a person’s behalf without them even being here—but for now, they’re more science fiction than science fact. Still, it was good to see Qualcomm pushing the boundaries and getting people to think about what might be possible with these devices.
One of the challenges Qualcomm faced in this keynote is virtually all of the news about Copilot+ PCs had come out three weeks ago at Microsoft’s launch event. And in truth, much of what Amon covered was a revisit of the key announcements. In the context of the Computex environment and given all the other keynotes from semiconductor competitors, however, it still made sense to reinforce the key messages. It was also good to see and hear from many of the company’s PC partners about their specific product designs. Representatives from Acer, Asus, Dell, HP and Lenovo all shared time onstage with Amon and showed both new system designs as well as some of their own software initiatives taking advantage of the 45 TOPs-capable NPU in the Snapdragon X Series SOCs. I have to admit to being a bit disappointed that Qualcomm made no reference to the potential for a 5G-equipped Copilot+ PC—and only three SKUs, including Microsoft’s new Surface Pro, will even offer it—because I think in the world of hybrid AI it could prove to be quite an important differentiator.
The big question for Qualcomm moving forward is how all these partners will juggle the many competing offerings they will end up creating and selling using new Copilot+ capable chips from AMD and Intel. In fact, most of the partners Qualcomm had onstage were also in AMD’s keynote earlier that morning and are likely to be in Intel’s keynote tomorrow morning. Competition for AI PCs and chip sockets among PC vendors has grown dramatically more intense and the impact of that competition has come into clear focus here at Computex. While I have little doubt that Snapdragon X Series PCs will be well received, watching how the Windows-based PC market evolves is going to be extremely interesting.
Of course, as Amon finished up his keynote, he also reminded everyone that the competition isn’t just among Windows PC vendors and suppliers—it’s also with Apple. To that end, he debuted a clever new ad with former “I’m a Mac” actor Justin Long that showed him searching for a Snapdragon-powered PC—from a Mac. It was an entertaining way to highlight that the battle for personal computing hearts and minds extends beyond Windows and into a wider world.
Here's a link to the original article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/computex-chronicles-part-4-qualcomm-reinforces-pc-bob-o-donnell-zg1vf/ Bob O’Donnell is the president and chief analyst of TECHnalysis Research, LLC a market research firm that provides strategic consulting and market research services to the technology industry and professional financial community. You can follow him on LinkedIn at Bob O’Donnell or on Twitter @bobodtech. |
