China News Service, March 29 (China News reporter Wu Tao) The PC industry has always been criticized for its "toothpaste-squeezing" style updates. Until the advent of the AI ​​PC era, this situation may end.

　　Many analysts pointed out that the PC, a "sunset industry", may be reborn. Integrating dedicated AI acceleration hardware into personal computers can achieve amazing innovations in efficiency, productivity, collaboration and creativity, "just like your personal secretary" Same."

AI PC has very high configuration requirements

　　What is an AI PC? An independent cutting-edge technology research institution, Weijin Research, recently released a report stating that to become an AI PC, it must meet five major characteristics, including embedded personal large models and standard local hybrid AI computing power.

  Screenshot of Microsoft’s official website.

　　In simple terms, the PC must have at least 16GB of memory; the model parameters must be 7 billion; the AI ​​computing power must reach 40 TOPS (1TOPS means the processor can perform one trillion operations per second), etc.

　　However, there is currently no authoritative definition of AI PC. Currently, a mainstream view is that it depends on whether the computer is equipped with a neural network processing unit (NPU). However, there are also reports that local AI computing power refers to the overall AI computing power of CPU+NPU+GPU, not just the computing power provided by NPU. Some PC manufacturers believe that AI PCs must have independent physical buttons to facilitate “one-click AI”.

　　Gao Yu, general manager of Intel's technology department in China, recently said that in the future, the entry-level standard for AI PCs must be 32G memory, while the current 16G memory will definitely be eliminated, and 64G PCs will begin shipping next year. At the same time, AI PC places very high requirements on SSD performance and capacity.

　　AMD Chairman and CEO Su Zifeng also recently stated that AI PC should actually be a combination of CPU, GPU and NPU, especially considering that some of the models can run on any of CPU, GPU or NPU.

　　Recently, Microsoft released two AI PCs. In addition to being equipped with a new generation of processors, they also have the core "brain" neural network processing unit in the intelligent computing era that accelerates the execution of AI tasks.

　　Why configure NPU? IDC pointed out in a report that on a general computing platform, the CPU-based computing structure is difficult to meet the parallel computing load requirements of AI neural networks and is not economical.

Be the first to cover AI professionals

　　Does the arrival of AI PC mean that computers are now outdated? Do ordinary consumers need to replace their computers?

　　Communication industry observer Xiang Ligang said in an interview with China News Service that the coverage of AI PCs will definitely start with professionals. Ordinary consumers do not need to follow the trend to replace machines, and AI PCs will not have absolute capabilities in a short time. It is something that computers did not have before, but some intelligent capabilities will be better. Computers in the future will continue to improve these capabilities.

  Data map.

　　According to incomplete analysis, the currently released AI PC functions include but are not limited to being applicable to any computer program, and can also realize natural language fuzzy search, understand context, edit images, generate long text, real-time translation, one-click call AI, and camera Automatic framing, etc., AI-generated pictures and videos are also a problem, and it works like your own "secretary".

　　Unresearched reports also pointed out that AI knowledge workers will become the early user group of AI PCs, and once users experience AI PCs, they will not be able to go back to the previous generation of PCs. This trend has already happened once with smartphones and feature phones.

　　The trend of the PC industry may also be seen from the forecast of AI PC shipments. Canalys' latest forecast data shows that global AI PC shipments will reach 48 million units in 2024, accounting for 18% of total personal computer shipments. But this is only the beginning of market transformation. It is expected that by 2025, AI PC shipments will exceed 100 million units, accounting for 40% of total PC shipments.

　　"By 2028, AI PC shipments will reach 205 million units, and the compound annual growth rate from 2024 to 2028 will reach an astonishing 44%." Canalys data shows.

Why PC?

　　For a long time, the updates of the PC industry have focused on graphics cards and screens, coupled with the "toothpaste squeeze" style improvement of CPU capabilities. It has been criticized and even called a "sunset industry." Therefore, the market has questions: Why does AI application carrier choose to launch on PC?

　　Some analysts say that the arrival of AI PC this time may be different from previous updates and may become a "watershed" in the industry. Wang Chuandong, Vice President of Lenovo Group and Chief Marketing Officer of China, recently stated that the explosive growth of AI technology makes computers expected to become personal assistants that can truly think like the human brain, and the value of PCs will be redefined.

　　"AI PC has the strongest terminal computing power, large local storage and rich interactive functions, making it an excellent productivity platform. Therefore, AI PC will become the preferred terminal for inclusive AI." Wang Chuandong said.

　　Xiang Ligang told Sino-Singapore Finance that so far, AI PCs have been equipped with GPUs and NPUs in personal computers, which have better results in speech recognition, graphics processing, etc., and added artificial intelligence processing capabilities, all in the future Computers will gradually add more powerful AI capabilities, and the performance in AI terminals is worth looking forward to.

　　The IDC report also believes that PC is by far the most powerful personal computing platform, with a balance between strong computing power and portability. The combination of AI personal large-scale model and PC is a natural match. PC is most likely to become the first choice terminal for AI to benefit everyone. At the same time, AI will also become the key technology driving force for the third major upgrade of PC. (over)