50% PCs to be AI-powered in three years: HP India's Ipsita Dasgupta

Dasgupta said that AI PCs will be a big growth driver for India, across both commercial and consumer segments, and therefore, a big driver for HP as well

Global personal computer (PC) manufacturer HP expects at least 50 per cent of all PCs to be artificial intelligence (AI) devices in the next two-three years, said a senior executive.

Having launched its range of Copilot Plus laptops for commercial and consumer segments on Thursday, HP is betting big on its AI PCs. These, it hopes, will drive growth in segments like small and medium businesses (SMBs), enterprises and education.

“Next year, at least 10 per cent of all PCs sold will be AI PCs across the industry. Over the next two-three years, we expect to see this figure go up to almost 50 per cent,” Ipsita Dasgupta, senior vice-president and managing director (MD), HP India, told Business Standard.

AI PCs use artificial intelligence to elevate productivity, creativity, gaming, entertainment, security and more. They house a neural processing unit (NPU), alongside a central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU), to handle AI tasks locally and more efficiently.

Dasgupta said AI PCs will be a big growth driver for India, across both commercial and consumer segments, and therefore, a big driver for HP as well.

“Overall, we see the PC total addressable market (TAM) doubling over the next five years, and AI will be a huge driver for that,” she added. This is a significant message from Dasgupta as the Indian PC market has been in the slow lane for a few quarters.

India’s PC market, including desktops, notebooks, and workstations, shipped 3.07 million units in the first quarter (Q1) of calendar year (CY) 2024, up 2.6 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y), according to data from the International Data Corporation (IDC).

HP led the market with a share of 30.1 per cent during the quarter, across both commercial and consumer segments with shares of 32.4 per cent and 26.9 per cent, respectively.

However, its shipments declined 8.8 per cent Y-o-Y due to reduced enterprise orders and consumer shipment delays, IDC data showed.

“We are seeing the softness in the market (in Q1) start to go away. Government and SMB segments are starting to rebound after the elections. We will see even more growth in the next few quarters,” Dasgupta said.

The newly-launched Copilot+ PCs (AI PCs with Windows) are designed and engineered around the Snapdragon X Elite processor. These include the HP EliteBook Ultra and HP OmniBook X.  

The new laptops come with built-in HP AI Companion – a personal AI-assistant for boosting productivity and creativity, the new Poly Camera Pro, and improved security measures.

In May, HP announced the rebranding of its consumer and commercial PC portfolios in an effort to simplify and streamline its product offerings.

The company’s consumer PCs now come with a prefix of “Omni”, while its commercial PCs will be named “Elite”, followed by signifiers that represent their respective product categories.

The launch comes after HP’s competitors, including Dell, Lenovo and Asus, have launched their own Copilot+ PCs earlier this month.

With several PC manufacturers unveiling their own devices, sales of AI PCs are expected to increase as this year’s refresh cycle kicks in. HP boasts of the biggest product portfolio of AI PCs, which, according to the company, will give it an edge.

Regardless, the adoption of these devices will initially be led by the commercial segment. Uptake on the consumer side is likely to ramp up as more use cases gradually come into the mix over the next six months.

“Anything that requires heavy processing, a lot of analytics, research and pooling information together, will see value immediately. We will see an impact on the commercial side first, including enterprise and SMB, and then we will see it hit the consumer segment. However, the fact that we have a wide portfolio will allow for rapid technology adoption on the consumer side as well,” said Dasgupta.