By 2026, 100% of enterprise PC purchases will be AI PCs: Gartner report

By the end of 2026, 100 per cent of enterprise PC purchases will be Artificial Intelligence (AI) PCs globally, up from less than 5 per cent in 2023, said a Gartner report.

By the end of 2024, Gartner forecasts AI PC shipments will reach 22 per cent.

In India, AI PCs could have a high impact on the PC market by bringing content and ease of accessibility in native languages.

"The evolution of AI technology is leading to the development of 'AI agent' PCs, essentially AI personas that reside within the computer. These AI agents understand and assist users by providing personalised content in their native language. This advancement could potentially revolutionise the PC market in India by making computers more accessible and user-friendly," said Ranjit Atwal, senior director analyst, Gartner.

AI PCs are computers with neural processing units (NPU) that allow AI tasks to run on the PCs.

For India, experts say that the trend could be beneficial for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) too, as these organisations do not upgrade their IT infrastructure in regular cycles, and an upgrade to AI PCs makes sense as it would help them reduce their input costs heavily.

“Organisations who understand how they can extract the most from AI-powered laptops will use them in productivity tools and will automate a lot of work. AI PCs will reduce a lot of their efforts in areas like researching, pre-sales, marketing, and other such functions,” said Faisal Kawoosa, chief analyst and founder, TechArc—a technology consulting firm.

AI PCs in enterprises will also help them get maximum outputs out of the workforce they employ, Kawoosa further said.

The demand is reflected in the demand for AI chips, where revenue from AI semiconductors globally is expected to total $71 billion in 2024, an increase of 33 per cent from 2023, according to the latest forecast from Gartner.

Gartner experts expect AI PCs to ultimately replace all existing PCs as older machines are retired. “This transition creates new opportunities for alternative processors and device types for commercial buyers,” say experts.

Analysts believe that many AI workloads, such as AI enhancements for communications and personal assistance, will move to the client from the cloud due to cost, efficiency, privacy concerns, and functionality.

The study by Gartner also indicates a shift that is happening from cloud to on-device AI PCs. To date, most AI implementations have relied on cloud execution, creating challenges with performance, offline functionality, and concerns over data governance and privacy. Many tasks in the AI landscape could be better performed on the device itself, closer to where the data or the user resides, says Gartner.

In 2024, AI chips revenue from computer electronics is projected to total $33.4 billion, which will account for 47 per cent of total AI semiconductor revenue.

Further, AI chips revenue from automotive electronics is expected to reach $7.1 billion, and $1.8 billion from consumer electronics in 2024, according to Gartner estimates.