AMD places its bets on AI-driven PCs as the artificial intelligence competition with Nvidia and Intel intensifies

SHANGHAI, CHINA – JULY 28, 2023 – Photo taken on July 28, 2023 shows the AMD logo at the 2023 ChinaJoy in Shanghai, China.CFOTO | Future Publishing | Getty ImagesU.S. chip giant Advanced Micro Devices is optimistic about AI PCs as it prepares to challenge competitors such as Nvidia and Intel in the growing AI market. “The market for AI PCs is going to continue to expand,” said Victor Peng, president of AMD, in a CNBC interview on Thursday. He explained that the company anticipates increased adoption of AI PCs in the latter part of the year. These are personal computers equipped with processors specifically designed to execute AI tasks like real-time language translation. According to tech research firm Canalys, the surge in generative AI is projected to drive PC sales as consumers seek devices with AI capabilities. The report predicts that 60% of PCs shipped in 2027 will be AI-capable. The release of ChatGPT in November 2022 triggered a surge of interest in AI, with the chatbot gaining popularity for its ability to generate human-like responses to users’ inputs. HP president and CEO Enrique Lores expressed enthusiasm about the impact of AI PCs on the overall PC category, but acknowledged that it would take time to permeate the market. Initially, AI-powered devices are expected to target certain segments of the enterprise PC market, but broader deployment over time is likely as more use cases and cost reductions come into play, according to research firm International Data Corporation. IDC foresees the integration of AI capabilities into PCs as a catalyst for upgrades, with these devices set to hit shelves this year. “We are seeing AI PCs becoming a bigger factor, and we have a good lead in AI PCs with the recent announcements … I think we’re extremely well positioned, both in AI and in other traditional businesses,” said Peng. In January, AMD unveiled the Ryzen 8000G Series desktop processors, promising substantial power and dominant performance for demanding workloads, including gaming and content creation. AMD competes with Nvidia and Intel in the arena of graphics processing units, which are crucial for AI and high-performance computing. Nvidia currently holds a dominant position in the market for GPUs used in AI applications, with leading AI models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT running on Nvidia GPUs such as the H100 in the cloud. Nvidia recently announced new GPUs for running generative AI applications on PCs and stated that it will supply GPUs for laptops from companies like Acer, Dell, and Lenovo. In December, Intel introduced Core Ultra chips designed to accelerate AI programs. The company disclosed that these processors will power over 230 of the world’s first AI PCs from companies including Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, and Lenovo. “AI is going to continue to be very big in this year and beyond. I mean, as large as the opportunities already are, we’re still in the early innings of AI,” said Peng. In December, AMD launched new Instinct MI300X chips, graphics processors created for large language model training, which will compete against Nvidia’s H100 chips. “AI is not just about data center GPUs, but it’s also the servers, and we gained significant market share last year. And for servers, we expect to continue to gain market share with the MI300,” said Peng. During the firm’s fourth-quarter earnings call, AMD’s executive vice president Jean Hu said: “We drove year-over-year revenue growth in our data center and embedded segments and successfully launched our AMD Instinct MI300 GPUs positioning us for a strong product ramp in 2024.” Correction: This story has been updated to correct the month when AMD announced its Ryzen processor

Author: OpenAI